Determining Nurses’ Professional Image Perceptions: A Descriptive Cross-Sectional Study

Objective: The nursing image is built on a tripod of the public, nursing students, and nurses. Determining how each leg of this tripod perceives the nursing is crucial to improving the professional image. This study aimed to determine the nursing image perceptions among nurses at a private hospital group in Istanbul.Material-Method: This descriptive-cross-sectional study was carried out with 428 nurses at four private hospitals affiliated with a foundation university in Istanbul. Data were collected through a random sampling method using a self-administered questionnaire, including a personal information form, and The Image Scale for Nursing Profession. Data analysis was performed using descriptive statistics, Mann-Whitney U test, and Kruskal Wallis-H variance analysis. Results: Nurses generally perceived the nursing image as positive with a median score of 169 (160-177) out of 210. Nursing image for gender and professional status subscales was perceived more negatively than others, with median scores of 23 (19-28) and 19 (17-22), respectively. Nurses who were female (p=0.007), younger than 22 years (p=0.001), unwilling to re-choose nursing as a career (p=0.001), had professional experience less than a year (p=0.002), and worked more than 55 hours a week (p=0.000) perceived nursing image more negatively.Conclusion: The results of this study showed that nurses working at a private hospital group had positive perceptions of the nursing image at a high level, except in terms of gender and professional status. Reflecting a gender equality perspective on nursing management, employing only undergraduate nurses for nursing, and planning an effective work schedule are recommended.