Kontakt 2007, 9(2):254-259 | DOI: 10.32725/kont.2007.039

Profession of nurse, professionalism and elitism in nursing activity from the standpoint of sociologyNursing

Sylva Bártlová
Jihočeská univerzita v Českých Budějovicích, Zdravotně sociální fakulta, katedra ošetřovatelství

In the article presented here, the profession of nurse and its development is considered. The main characters of the profession (existence of systematic theory, professional authority, system of professional associations, professional ethics) are delimited and it is concluded that the occupation of nurses comprises all the characters of a profession. A further part of the article is aimed at introducing the professionalism in nursing: onset of "new system of nursing" in the 1980's in most advanced western countries. The attempts aimed at the introduction of the professionalism are considered as natural and legitimate in advanced industrial countries. In spite of this, certain social critics are worried about the growing importance of the profession in the modern society. Standpoints of certain authors (Freidson, Smith, Dingwall, Rafferty etc.) considering nursing subordinate to the medical profession are mentioned. These authors consider the medical profession within the framework of the health system as a prototype of a profession with describing nursing as a semi-profession due to a lack of autonomy and perceived restricted basis of knowledge. The author expresses her standpoints concerning these opinions and she considers them as one-sided in the sense that they derive the characteristics of nursing and particularly professionalism of nurses based on the conditions in hospitals, without taking into account consequences of currently occurring changes. The last part of the article is aimed at problems of elites, since in nursing it is possible to consider horizontal and vertical elites in accordance with certain authors (Clarke, Miers, Godin). The vertical elitism is present between nurses having different positions within the scope of a health facility. The horizontal elitism is affected by the medical model and by the importance, which is considered with emphasizing scientific and technical knowledge.

Keywords: Elite; elitism; nursing; profession of nurses; professionalism

Received: September 10, 2007; Accepted: October 17, 2007; Published: December 21, 2007  Show citation

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Bártlová S. Profession of nurse, professionalism and elitism in nursing activity from the standpoint of sociology. Kontakt. 2007;9(2):254-259. doi: 10.32725/kont.2007.039.
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