The standards of professionalism in nursing: the nursing instructors’ experiences

Background: The increasing need and demand for professional nurses and enhance the quality of professional services is a key issue that has led to professional practice in health systems. Aim: The aim of this study was to explore the standards of nursing professionalism based on faculties' points of view. Methods: Qualitative design in this study was content analysis with purposive sampling. Data were derived from 28 instructors of Bushehr University of Medical Sciences who had over 3 years of work experience and they desired to participate in the study. Data collection was conducted three FGD and 12 individual interviews. The data were analyzed based on steps of conventional content analysis. Results: Data analysis resulted in development offour major themes and eight sub-themes. The main themes included promoting empowerment, ethics and professional commitment, resources and structure, and correction of social status. Sub-themes included individual abilities and professionalism, human values and professional ethics, educational and organizational structure and resources as well as internal and external factors. Conclusion: Attention to education and continuous evaluation of nursing skills and knowledge, position of nursing in health care system and social status of nursing have essential roles in the empowering and enhancing of nursing professionalism.