Nurse's professional identity and Related Factors in formation it: A review article

Professional identity includes beliefs and values of a nurse that guide her/his thoughts, practice and interaction with patients. Today, increasing the people’s awareness as well as technological developments enhances public request for high-quality care, so the need to have active and professional nurses who have commitment to their professional identity is strongly felt. This article aimed at investigating the related factors in formation of nurses’ professional identity and its challenges. This is a review article that was done in 2015 through searching databases such as Pubmed, Elsevier, Google scholar, Ovid, SID and Iranmedex using professional identity, professionalism and identity in nursing keywords and their English equals. Between 88 founded articles, 41 articles were assessed. 88 articles were found and after studying their abstracts, 41 articles were selected to review. Having positive professional identity leads to nurses’ personal, social and professional development and retention in the profession as well. Theoretical and clinical courses compatibility, offering clear and acceptable image of profession, workplace ethical values, clinical authority and power of leadership in healthcare system are among factors that influence the positive professional identity formation. : Nurses need to improve the public image of nursing and achieve stronger position in healthcare systems via increasing their presence in scientific communities. Nursing programs with focus on powering nurses’ professional identity, managers with providing a respectful atmosphere in workplaces and nursing professors with creating a positive image of profession in nursing students have vital role in formation of professional identity.