gms | German Medical Science

Background and Purpose: A vocation becomes a profession once it uses a systematic approach to generate its own knowledge and to transfer it directly into professional work. The aim of this paper is to show the attitudes of nursing care professionals towards the professionalization of nursing care and its development as a scientific discipline in Slovenia.

Methods: The group qualitative interview technique was used in two rounds.

Research Focus: Participants responded to 15 open premises/questions. Purposive sampling was used and groups comprised professionals from all levels of clinical environments, secondary and higher education teachers and master's and doctoral degree students (n=61).

Results: The results of the first round provided 3 themes and the second round generated 4 themes. The synthesis of findings from both rounds resulted in two overarching themes. The first is “National responsibility” and includes the responsibility of the nursing care management and the management of higher education institutions as well as the responsibility of the Nursing and Midwife Chamber-Association for developing nursing care as a scientific discipline. The second theme is “National indicators of the realization of national responsibility” which include (1) Classification of jobs in nursing care to reflect the 4 levels of nursing care competences, (2) research and development as work tools in nursing care, and (3) national institute for nursing care research.

Conclusions: The study defines the responsibilities for addressing gaps that are in the domain of multiple sectors. It is expected that the competences of the four categories of nursing care providers will be implemented as well as the resulting job classification. Research and development work must become a tool for working in direct nursing care and the National institute for nursing care research must act as the generator of evidence needed for the strategic development of nursing care and the integrator of research work.