Nursing as a vocation or profession

Introduction A “ profession” is a person’s occupation, in which one has undergone training, and specializes in it as the main source of income. On the other hand, a vocation is a profession, but mainly based on religious issues where people refer to it as a calling from God. The debate on whether nursing is a profession or an occupation has been argued out for a number of years, but people are yet to come up with a valid definition. This paper discusses nursing as both a profession and an occupation and presents various reasons as to why it is a profession and at the same time a vocation.

Firstly, nursing is a profession since it involves training and specialization. Notably, a profession is an occupation where a person has undergone training and has specialized in the job. Regarding that, people who have decided to become nurses must undergo training and furthermore specialize in it before the society recognizes them as such. Finkelman & Kenner (2013), assert that a person cannot claim that they have the calling from God to become nurses when they lack the knowledge about the drugs and other clinical matters. Additionally, Masters (2009), affirms that referencing of nursing as vocation, would lead to employment of many inexperienced nurses and this would lead to serious effects to the society.