Little research on the level of professionalism of nurse practitioners has
been published to date. These nurses are expected to practice relatively au
tonomously in delivering client care and therefore must monitor their own l
evels of professionalism. At a national conference, 502 nurse practitioners
completed the Professionalism in Nursing Behaviors Inventory. Participants
represented all of the states and the most common specialties of nurse pra
ctitioners. Nearly 68 per cent had been practitioners less than 5 years and
were primarily employed in physicians' offices. The majority had received
their master's degrees from schools with nurse practitioner curricula, and
8 per cent held doctorates. More than one half of the practitioners had wri
tten a research proposal or participated in a project within the past 2 yea
rs. In terms of autonomy, nearly 50 per cent of the nurses had written thei
r own job descriptions. Maintaining certification motivated them to engage
in some professionalism behaviors. Results indicated these nurse practition
ers had high levels of professionalism. Copyright (C) 2001 by W.B. Saunders
Company.