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Professional Nursing Nightingale in his work defines nursing as the act of exploiting the patient environment in assisting him to recover from illness. Nurses have a peculiar function of assisting either the sick or well individuals in performing some activities that are anticipated to contribute to the recovery of their health. It is usually possible for the patient to perform the activities being done on him by the nurse if he were to be sober with the required strength, knowledge and willingness. Other definitions of nursing have however being accepted one among which describes nursing as a humanistic science that is passionately concerned and dedicated in enhancing health while preventing illness as well as caring for the sick and the disabled. rom the above definitions, it can be stated that nursing is usually a helping profession whose main ob!ective in the society is to aid individuals to restore and maintain their health and ensuring that in the worst cases patients die with dignity. "ccording to #ebster$s dictionary, a profession is described as an occupation that relies on intensive and advanced training of an individual while at the same time equipping him with experience of speciali%ed knowledge to help him deliver a certain service to the society. " combination of the above definitions can be utili%ed to yield the definition of professional nursing which can be described as the act of utili%ing the basic nursing education and experience gained in education programs related to nursing in order to help individuals regain their health and strength. lexner argues that one of the distinguishing features of a profession is the

existence of certain norms, ethics and values that are universal among the members of that corporate body of professionals. &his means that a professional nurse should have a permit to

' practice nursing according to the regulations of his home country. (niversally, in the global set up all professional nurses are required by accredited boards to ascertain that their educational programs are certified so that they can be eligible for licensing. In addition a professional nurse is required to hold a )achelor of *cience degree in nursing besides being fit both physically and mentally. +rofessional nursing practice is encircled by several codes of ethics and one of it acknowledges that every individual has a right to good health. &he ma!or responsibility of a professional nurse is therefore to ensure that the health of an individual is preserved by all means irrespective of the cost involved. &he core work of professional nurses is to ensure that health is promoted by preventing illness through suffering alleviation with an aim of restoring health. Nurses should effectively understand the health of an individual together with some other aspects related to his social, cultural, psychological, pathophysiological as well as the ecological attributes of his immediate environment. ,ffective nursing therefore should not be barred by ethinical, political and social differences as this would distort the meaning of professional nursing making it less meaningful in the society. In conclusion, nursing professionalism requires that in order for one to be recogni%ed as a professional nurse he-she should posses a certain educational background that can help him

ensure safety and effectiveness while practicing the career. "s a result all professional nurses are held accountable to the professional ethical standards .In an attempt to combat the practice of endangering the nursing profession the registration board requires that all members to take part in nursing organi%ations so that they can advance and support their profession while at the same time improving their competency.