N138 EXAM SCRIPT UPDATED QUESTIONS AND
SOLUTIONS RATED A+
✔✔Houle's Characteristics of a Profession - ✔✔The evolution from occupation to
profession was analyzed by Houle (1980), who identified a number of characteristics
that indicate that an occupational group is toward professional status
Step 1: define the group's mission and foundations of practice
Step 2: mastery of theoretical knowledge
Step 3: development of *collective identity* as an occupation evolves into a profession -
> includes formal training, credentialing, creation of a subculture, legal right to practice,
discipline of unethical/incompetent practitioners, formalization of the role in relation to
other professions
✔✔Profession vs Occupation - ✔✔Profession = a calling, vocation, or form of
employment that provides a needed service to society and possesses characteristics of
expertise, autonomy, long academic preparation, commitment, responsibility
*a profession is someone's personal identity*
Occupation = a person's regular work or job
A profession differs from an occupation in 2 major ways: *preparation and commitment*
✔✔Process of Professionalization - ✔✔*Occupation -> Profession Continuum* (as seen
through the earliest recognized "learned" professions like law, medicine, divinity--they
all followed this sequential development)
1. practitioners practice full time in discipline
2. determined work standards, identified a body of knowledge, established educational
institutions
3. promoted organization
4. established a code of ethics
✔✔*Professional Preparation & Commitment* - ✔✔*Professional preparation and
commitment include:*
1. *instruction* within the specialized body of knowledge and techniques of the
profession
2. *orientation* to the beliefs, values, and attitudes expected of the members of the
profession
3. *commitment* transcends the expectation of money (material reward)
4. *personal identity in a profession* - less common to change careers than occupations
✔✔Interprofessionality - ✔✔Important to develop core competencies within a profession
as well as enhanced teamwork across disciplines and team-based care; WHO noted in
,2010 that in the current healthcare climate, it is no longer enough for health care
workers to be professional, they also need to be interprofessional
✔✔*4 domains of Interprofessionality (Education Collaborative Expert Panel Report,
2011)* - ✔✔1. Values/ethics for interprofessional practice
2. Roles/responsibilities
3. Interprofessional communication
4. Teams and teamwork
✔✔*Kelly's Criteria: 8 Characteristics of a Profession (1981)* - ✔✔Contemporary
nursing embodies the characteristics of these criteria:
1. The *services provided are vital* to humanity and the welfare of society.
2. There is a special body of knowledge that is continually enlarged through
*research*.
3. The services involve *intellectual activities*; individual responsibility
*(accountability)* is a strong feature.
4. Practitioners are *educated* in institutions of higher learning (first university based
nursing education was established at the University of Minnesota in 1909).
5. Practitioners are relatively independent and control their own policies and
activities *(autonomy)* -> .
6. Practitioners are *motivated by service (altruism)* and consider their work an
important component of their lives.
7. There is a *code of ethics* to guide the decisions and conduct of practitioners.
8. There is an organization *(association)* that encourages and supports high
standards of practice.
✔✔1. The *services provided are vital* to humanity and the welfare of society. -
✔✔Caring is the core of nursing
✔✔2. There is a special body of knowledge that is continually enlarged through
*research*. - ✔✔Nursing has its own PhD
Nursing no longer based on simple problem solving it increasingly relies on theory and
research for theory of practice
evidence-based practice
✔✔3. The services involve *intellectual activities*; individual responsibility
*(accountability)* is a strong feature. - ✔✔Nursing process, individual accountability for
RNs (according to Code of Ethics for Nurses, accountability = being answerable to
someone for something one has done)
Accountability is rooted in loyalty, veracity, *beneficence*, respect for dignity
, ✔✔4. Practitioners are *educated* in institutions of higher learning - ✔✔First university
based nursing education was established at the University of Minnesota in 1909
1965: The ANA said that nursing schools need to take place at higher level of education
✔✔5. Practitioners are relatively independent and control their own policies and
activities (autonomy). - ✔✔Licensure by the state boards of nursing means that nurses
are autonomous practitioners who are responsible for their own practice
3 groups that have historically tried to control nursing practice are organized nursing,
organized medicine, and health service administration; "organized" = collective
professional bodies that are the voice speaking for the interests of their respective
professions (ANA, AMA, National Nurses United etc.); medicine and health
administration are well organized and well funded powerful lobbies at the state and
national levels, which poses a major challenge to full autonomy for nurses;
unfortunately, organized nursing does not yet have available economic resources to
compete effectively against influential lobbying forces seeking to neutralize nursing
autonomy
*Magnet Recognition Program* is an initiative of the American Nurses Credentialing
Center (ANCC) that demonstrates organizational recognition of nursing excellence. By
early 2012, 391 hospitals had achieved Magnet designation, most in the US and some
internationally. Recognizes hospitals that attract and retain nurses, acknowledging that
this achieves better patient outcomes.
✔✔6. Practitioners are motivated by service (altruism) and consider
their work an important component of their lives. - ✔✔The desire to "help people" is
foundational to nurses' identities and recognition that their work is important. No one
questions the rights of other professionals to charge reasonable fees for the services
they render, but nurses' altruism is sometimes called into question when they demand
higher compensation and better working conditions. Tension bt organized nursing vs.
nurses who see collective bargaining as antithetical to the ideal of nursing as altruistic.
Commitment to nursing is important. Those who simply view it as a job may be
responsible for the delay in the development of professional attitudes and behaviors for
the profession as a whole.
✔✔7. There is a code of ethics to guide the decisions and conduct of
practitioners. - ✔✔Provides professional standards and a framework for moral decision
making -> the Nightingale Pledge functioned as nursing's first code of ethics. The trust
placed in the nursing profession requires the nurses to act with integrity.
✔✔8. There is an organization (association) that encourages and
supports high standards of practice. - ✔✔The ANA is the official voice of nursing and
therefore is the primary advocate for nursing interests in general. Membership in the
SOLUTIONS RATED A+
✔✔Houle's Characteristics of a Profession - ✔✔The evolution from occupation to
profession was analyzed by Houle (1980), who identified a number of characteristics
that indicate that an occupational group is toward professional status
Step 1: define the group's mission and foundations of practice
Step 2: mastery of theoretical knowledge
Step 3: development of *collective identity* as an occupation evolves into a profession -
> includes formal training, credentialing, creation of a subculture, legal right to practice,
discipline of unethical/incompetent practitioners, formalization of the role in relation to
other professions
✔✔Profession vs Occupation - ✔✔Profession = a calling, vocation, or form of
employment that provides a needed service to society and possesses characteristics of
expertise, autonomy, long academic preparation, commitment, responsibility
*a profession is someone's personal identity*
Occupation = a person's regular work or job
A profession differs from an occupation in 2 major ways: *preparation and commitment*
✔✔Process of Professionalization - ✔✔*Occupation -> Profession Continuum* (as seen
through the earliest recognized "learned" professions like law, medicine, divinity--they
all followed this sequential development)
1. practitioners practice full time in discipline
2. determined work standards, identified a body of knowledge, established educational
institutions
3. promoted organization
4. established a code of ethics
✔✔*Professional Preparation & Commitment* - ✔✔*Professional preparation and
commitment include:*
1. *instruction* within the specialized body of knowledge and techniques of the
profession
2. *orientation* to the beliefs, values, and attitudes expected of the members of the
profession
3. *commitment* transcends the expectation of money (material reward)
4. *personal identity in a profession* - less common to change careers than occupations
✔✔Interprofessionality - ✔✔Important to develop core competencies within a profession
as well as enhanced teamwork across disciplines and team-based care; WHO noted in
,2010 that in the current healthcare climate, it is no longer enough for health care
workers to be professional, they also need to be interprofessional
✔✔*4 domains of Interprofessionality (Education Collaborative Expert Panel Report,
2011)* - ✔✔1. Values/ethics for interprofessional practice
2. Roles/responsibilities
3. Interprofessional communication
4. Teams and teamwork
✔✔*Kelly's Criteria: 8 Characteristics of a Profession (1981)* - ✔✔Contemporary
nursing embodies the characteristics of these criteria:
1. The *services provided are vital* to humanity and the welfare of society.
2. There is a special body of knowledge that is continually enlarged through
*research*.
3. The services involve *intellectual activities*; individual responsibility
*(accountability)* is a strong feature.
4. Practitioners are *educated* in institutions of higher learning (first university based
nursing education was established at the University of Minnesota in 1909).
5. Practitioners are relatively independent and control their own policies and
activities *(autonomy)* -> .
6. Practitioners are *motivated by service (altruism)* and consider their work an
important component of their lives.
7. There is a *code of ethics* to guide the decisions and conduct of practitioners.
8. There is an organization *(association)* that encourages and supports high
standards of practice.
✔✔1. The *services provided are vital* to humanity and the welfare of society. -
✔✔Caring is the core of nursing
✔✔2. There is a special body of knowledge that is continually enlarged through
*research*. - ✔✔Nursing has its own PhD
Nursing no longer based on simple problem solving it increasingly relies on theory and
research for theory of practice
evidence-based practice
✔✔3. The services involve *intellectual activities*; individual responsibility
*(accountability)* is a strong feature. - ✔✔Nursing process, individual accountability for
RNs (according to Code of Ethics for Nurses, accountability = being answerable to
someone for something one has done)
Accountability is rooted in loyalty, veracity, *beneficence*, respect for dignity
, ✔✔4. Practitioners are *educated* in institutions of higher learning - ✔✔First university
based nursing education was established at the University of Minnesota in 1909
1965: The ANA said that nursing schools need to take place at higher level of education
✔✔5. Practitioners are relatively independent and control their own policies and
activities (autonomy). - ✔✔Licensure by the state boards of nursing means that nurses
are autonomous practitioners who are responsible for their own practice
3 groups that have historically tried to control nursing practice are organized nursing,
organized medicine, and health service administration; "organized" = collective
professional bodies that are the voice speaking for the interests of their respective
professions (ANA, AMA, National Nurses United etc.); medicine and health
administration are well organized and well funded powerful lobbies at the state and
national levels, which poses a major challenge to full autonomy for nurses;
unfortunately, organized nursing does not yet have available economic resources to
compete effectively against influential lobbying forces seeking to neutralize nursing
autonomy
*Magnet Recognition Program* is an initiative of the American Nurses Credentialing
Center (ANCC) that demonstrates organizational recognition of nursing excellence. By
early 2012, 391 hospitals had achieved Magnet designation, most in the US and some
internationally. Recognizes hospitals that attract and retain nurses, acknowledging that
this achieves better patient outcomes.
✔✔6. Practitioners are motivated by service (altruism) and consider
their work an important component of their lives. - ✔✔The desire to "help people" is
foundational to nurses' identities and recognition that their work is important. No one
questions the rights of other professionals to charge reasonable fees for the services
they render, but nurses' altruism is sometimes called into question when they demand
higher compensation and better working conditions. Tension bt organized nursing vs.
nurses who see collective bargaining as antithetical to the ideal of nursing as altruistic.
Commitment to nursing is important. Those who simply view it as a job may be
responsible for the delay in the development of professional attitudes and behaviors for
the profession as a whole.
✔✔7. There is a code of ethics to guide the decisions and conduct of
practitioners. - ✔✔Provides professional standards and a framework for moral decision
making -> the Nightingale Pledge functioned as nursing's first code of ethics. The trust
placed in the nursing profession requires the nurses to act with integrity.
✔✔8. There is an organization (association) that encourages and
supports high standards of practice. - ✔✔The ANA is the official voice of nursing and
therefore is the primary advocate for nursing interests in general. Membership in the
