Pragmatic Solutions for Defining Nursing’s Unique Identity
Ali Fakher, BSN, RN,
UN Nurse & Global Health Innovator | ?? ANHI Lifetime Achievement Award 2025 | ?? NurseHack4Health Winner | Transforming Nursing Leadership & Innovation | Championing Systemic Change
?? Why do nurses struggle to articulate what makes their role distinct from medicine, allied health, or caregiving?
Nurses are often caught in an identity paradox: they are the backbone of healthcare, yet their role is frequently misunderstood or overshadowed by medicine, allied health, or caregiving. This lack of clarity impacts professional recognition, policy influence, and career advancement.
So, how do we solve this problem pragmatically? How can nurses clearly define and articulate what makes their role distinct?
Here’s a structured, actionable approach to strengthen, refine, and amplify nursing’s identity:
1?? Define Nursing by Its Core Distinctions, Not Just Its Functions
The mistake nurses often make is defining their work by what they do rather than by how they think, approach problems, and contribute to patient outcomes.
What Sets Nursing Apart?
?? Holistic, Systems-Based Thinking: Nurses don’t just treat diseases—they optimize entire health systems around a person’s biological, psychological, and social needs.
?? The Only Discipline That Blends Science and Human Connection: Nursing uniquely integrates technical, scientific knowledge with therapeutic relationships that improve healing.
?? 24/7 Frontline Decision-Making: Unlike other healthcare professionals who work episodically with patients, nurses continuously assess, adjust, and anticipate changes in real-time.
?? Expertise in Prevention and Health Promotion: While medicine focuses on treating illness, nursing prioritizes proactive interventions that prevent diseases before they start.
?? Actionable Solution: Nurses should be trained to articulate not just what they do, but why their approach is different. Instead of saying:
?? “I take care of patients and administer medications.”
? “I apply bioscience, clinical judgment, and real-time assessment to prevent deterioration and improve long-term health outcomes.”
2?? Establish a Universal Nursing Framework That Clarifies the Profession’s Identity
One major problem is that nursing lacks a unified narrative. Medicine has its disease-treatment model, while allied health professionals have specialized skill-based roles. Nursing needs a universally recognized framework.
Proposed Framework: The “P3 Model” for Nursing Identity
Every nursing action falls into three core domains:
?? Prevention → Reducing risks, promoting health, and minimizing complications.
?? Precision → Making real-time, data-driven decisions that adapt to patient needs.
?? Personalization → Nurses humanize healthcare, ensuring patient-centered, relationship-based care that integrates biopsychosocial complexity.
?? Actionable Solution: Nursing organizations and educators should adopt a common language like the P3 Model to describe nursing’s identity in policy discussions, job descriptions, and public messaging.
3?? Shift the Narrative From Tasks to Impact
Many people (including nurses themselves) describe nursing as a series of tasks rather than a discipline rooted in science and decision-making. This leads to the false perception that nursing is "less complex" than medicine.
Reframing Nursing’s Value
Instead of describing what nurses do, emphasize why it matters:
?? “I assist doctors by administering treatments and monitoring patients.”
? “I use critical thinking and evidence-based interventions to prevent complications, optimize recovery, and drive better patient outcomes.”
?? Actionable Solution: Professional training should teach nurses how to communicate their impact, not just their job duties. Nursing students and working professionals should practice using high-impact narratives in job interviews, leadership discussions, and policy advocacy.
4?? Integrate Precision Science & Technology to Differentiate Nursing’s Scientific Contributions
One reason nursing is often confused with caregiving is that it’s historically been framed as a compassion-driven rather than a science-driven profession. But modern nursing integrates genomics, AI, robotics, and precision medicine—and this needs to be part of how we define it.
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Nursing as a Precision Science Discipline
?? Nursing Genomics: Personalized medicine isn’t just for doctors—nurses use genomic insights to tailor interventions.
?? AI-Driven Clinical Decision Support: Nurses increasingly use AI algorithms to detect deterioration and optimize patient care.
?? Symptom Science: Nursing researchers lead studies on pain, fatigue, and recovery patterns to improve patient outcomes.
?? Actionable Solution: Nurses should publicly share how they apply technology and science to patient care. Nursing schools should teach students how to explain their work in a way that highlights the depth of their expertise.
5?? Make Nursing’s Impact Visible in Policy, Leadership, and Media
If nurses aren’t seen at decision-making tables, the profession will continue to be defined by others. Nurses must position themselves as healthcare leaders, innovators, and change-makers—not just “helpers.”
Key Barriers
? Nurses are underrepresented in policy-making, despite shaping most patient outcomes.
? Nursing research receives less funding than physician-led research.
? The public rarely sees nurses leading innovations, despite their contributions to healthcare transformation.
?? Actionable Solutions:
6?? Train Nurses to Advocate for Themselves and the Profession
A major issue is that nurses are not systematically taught how to advocate for their profession. Unlike physicians, who are trained in medical politics and healthcare leadership, nurses often graduate without the skills to defend their professional identity in the workplace, media, or policy discussions.
?? Actionable Solution:
7?? Unify Nursing’s Voice Through Stronger Global Advocacy
Nurses make up the largest sector of the healthcare workforce, yet they lack a unified, globally recognized voice that speaks with authority in healthcare debates.
?? Actionable Solution:
?? The Future of Nursing: A Profession That Stands Unapologetically in Its Power
Nurses are not mini-doctors. Nurses are not just caregivers. Nurses are scientists, innovators, and leaders shaping the future of healthcare.
The problem isn’t that nursing lacks a unique identity—it’s that we haven’t consistently communicated it.
It’s time to:
? Reframe nursing as a precision-driven discipline, not just a care-based profession.
? Train nurses to articulate their impact in scientific, policy, and leadership spaces.
? Control the narrative, ensuring the world sees nursing as an indispensable, knowledge-driven profession.
?? Let’s start the conversation: How would YOU define what makes nursing distinct? What’s the one thing the public doesn’t understand about nursing’s role in healthcare? Share your thoughts below! ??
Educator | Advocate | Building Community & Driving Change
3 周Everything in this article is gold and needs to be shared with every nurse, anyone in healthcare, leadership, the public … really anyone who will listen. I feel every single piece you wrote in this article is bang on for concerns nurses face. You wrote about training nurses to advocate for themselves… umm yes we need this! How many nurses just follow the status quo because they have no idea where to start. Following along is easier and does not draw attention. But following along does not push the profession to get any better or challenge the outdated narratives of a nurse. We need to teach students how to navigate the nursing world and equip them with the tools they need to succeed and bring about change. What we could do if we were unified ??… the possibilities are truly endless. There are so many of us and yet we are the most siloed profession in healthcare. Work together to make the changes needed to ensure we are seen for the amazing humans we all are! The P3 model is an amazing way to view nursing! I hope it will take off as it truly encompasses what a nurse is and can be. I could speak to every point truly because they are all equally jmportsnt to be seen and collectively utilized to enhance nursing
Founder & Registered Nurse | Helping Families in Indiana with Compassionate, High-Quality Home Care | Specialising in Dementia, Senior & Disability Support
3 周Such an important conversation! ?? Nursing is more than tasks. It’s critical thinking, leadership, and compassionate care all in one. We need to own our narrative and highlight our true impact!
MSN, RN, CCCTM Transitional Care Manager, Population Management Design Steward
3 周Well said! Lead the way. Thank you
A nurse is someone who embodies compassion, not just within the hospital walls but in every aspect of life. I once had a patient who told me, "Your smile is more powerful than the paracetamol you gave me." That simple comment resonated deeply with me because it highlighted what truly matters to patients. It’s not just about administering medications or guiding them through endless tests—it’s about the comfort, kindness, and human connection that make the healing process easier. Sometimes, the smallest gestures, like a reassuring smile or a few kind words, can be just as powerful as any treatment.
Registered Nurse
4 周Very helpful