Professionalization of Nursing: Barriers and Facilitators

Abstract

Background & Objectives: Professionalization is considered as one of the fundamental and basic concepts in nurs- ing. Although the importance of professional growth and development has been emphasized in the literature, barriers and challenges of nursing professionalization and the consequences have been neglected over the years. In this review article, we aimed to present an overview of the barriers and challenges of professionalization in nursing, based on recent literature and identify the required steps for overcoming these barriers.Methods: In this systematic review, English and Farsi databases including PubMed, Science Direct, Google Scholar, Magiran and SID were searched, using the following keywords: “professionalization” or “professionalism” and “nursing”. Relevant articles focusing on the challenges, barriers and facilitators of professionalization in nursing, published during 1990-2014, were reviewed.Results: Among 262 studies, 30 articles were reviewed regarding the challenges, barri- ers and facilitators of nursing professionalization. Based on the findings, barriers of professionalization were as follows: work overload, low expertise in nursing paradigms and research methods, lack of attention to research, occupational oppression, nurses’ low social status, the gap between theory and practice and shortcomings in the established educational curricula. On the other hand, the facilitators were as follows: role modeling, professional socialization, professional skills and knowledge, experience, workplace environment, ethical codes, autonomy and nurses’ independent functions.Conclusion: Nursing professionalization has a complex and multi-dimensional na- ture. Therefore, it is suggested that nursing authorities facilitate the development of nursing profession and accel- erate professionalization through increasing the number of nursing staff with higher academic degrees, improving nurses’ work conditions and encouraging their collaboration in the process of healthcare decision-making.