The status quo and correlation of professional identity and structural authorization of clinical nurse specialists in Class III Grade A hospitals in Beijing

Abstract

Objective To investigate the status of identity and structural of clinical nurse specialists in ClassⅢ Grade A hospitals in Beijing, and to explore the correlation between them. Methods By convenience sampling, 260 in-service clinical specialist nurses from 5 ClassⅢ Grade A hospitals in Beijing were investigated in terms of their identity and structural level as well as the correlations by Professional Identity Scale (PIS) and the Chinese Version of Conditions of Work Effectiveness Questionnaire (CWEQ-Ⅱ-CV) on May 2018. Results The 260 clinical nurse specialists achieved a total score of (111.36±20.15) points for PIS, at a medium level; among the five dimensions of PIS, the item of professional self-reflection had the highest average score: (3.83±0.71) points; while the item of professional cognitive evaluation had the lowest average score: (3.61±0.77) points. In the six dimensions of CWEQ-Ⅱ-CV, the item of support authorization had the highest average score of (3.52±0.89) points while the item of official authorization had the lowest average score of (3.14±1.03) points. The total score of PIS was positively correlated with the total score of CWEQ-Ⅱ-CV significantly (r=0.761, P<0.01) . Conclusions The overall identity and structural of the clinical nurse specialists in the five participated Class Ⅲ Grade A hospitals in Beijing are at a medium level. There is a significant positive correlation between identity and structural authorization, in other words, the higher level the structural is, the higher level the identity is. Key words: Nurses; Clinical nurse specialist; Professional identity; Structural