National Study of Nursing Faculty and Administrators' Perceptions of Professional Identity in Nursing

Background: Establishing a professional identity in nursing is integral to professional development, yet this area of inquiry remains understudied. Purpose: This segment of a multiphased national study measured nursing faculty's perceived level of importance regarding key components of professional identity in nursing using the newly developed Professional Identity in Nursing Survey (PINS). Methods: Fifty subject matter experts from nursing education, practice, and regulation utilized the DeVellis scale development process to develop the PINS over the course of 2 years. Nearly 1200 nurse educators evaluated the importance of a 34-itemscale relating to professional identity in nursing. Results: At endorsement of 95% or greater, 28 items were found to be important components of nursing identity. Effective communication, integrity, and being trustworthy and respectful were reported as most important to nursing identity. Conclusions: Nurse educators identified the important items to assess professional identity in nursing. Item refinement and psychometric evaluation of the survey are the next phase of the multiphased study.