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Is Nursing a Profession or an Occupation?

In: Other Topics

Submitted By 02231984
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According to Black (2014, p.54) "professions usually evolved from occupations that originally consisted of tasks but developed more specialized educational pathways and publicly legitimized status”.

I think that profession and occupation have similar meanings but they also differ slightly. A profession is a job that a person has they specifically studied for or went to college to study. A profession requires extensive training and specialized knowledge. An occupation however is a current job that is obtained that is not related to career goals. People that have an occupation are not paid for their knowledge but the work they produce. An occupation is what people work in order to just make money.

“Nursing is the protection, promotion, and optimization of health and abilities, prevention of illness and injury, alleviation of suffering through the diagnosis and treatment of human response, and advocacy in the care of individuals, families, communities, and populations.” (ANA, 2004, p. 4)

Nursing is a science, in that it is based on knowledge and principles which are classified and verified. Applied science is a science put into concrete practice. Nursing is the application of many sciences: dietetics, hygiene, pedagogy, sociology, bacteriology, etc. Nursing is a profession, for it is based on a body of organized and tested knowledge, it requires social service, it is not a commercial basis, it does not permit trade and personal advertising, it is capable of constant growth and development, it does not depend on another profession, and it is willing to contribute its discoveries to the

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