Professional Identity and the Choice to Remain in the Nursing Profession

The chapter contributes to scholarly discussions about nurses’ professional identities. To this end, the chapter describes identity as lived, constituted, and maintained by bonds between individuals and collectives. A process of identification resonates deeply with narratives. Drawing on the construct of professional identity, the chapter explores empirical examples written in registered nurses’ narratives of what is significant in their choice to remain in the profession. It argues that, in a complexly interwoven way, acting as a professional contributor in the nursing community and realigning to maintain professional belongingness in the nursing profession are two dimensions of professional identity. These two dimensions influence who the nurses are as professionals, implying that their professional identity can be understood as lived. Understood as lived, their professional identity may preclude them from leaving the nursing profession, as it is maintained by bonds between the individual nurse and their nursing community. In this way, professional identity may influence an outcome such as remaining in the profession.