Reclaiming Professional Identity: A Study Exploring the Impact of COVID‐19 on Nurses

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2025

Publication Title

Nursing Forum

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic affected all roles within healthcare but had a unique impact on the professional identity (PI) of nurses. This study assessed the PI of practicing nurses in a Midwestern US healthcare setting using a standardized tool and focus groups exploring the lived experience of practicing nurses’ PI formation and enactment during COVID-19. The survey included 312 responses, and the focus groups included 36 participants. Overall, all domains of nurses’ PI were impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, regardless of role or years of experience. Phenomenological qualitative analysis revealed four themes: polarities in identity, wartime identity, relationships and identity, and flexibility and experience as resilience factors to identity. PI is linked to high quality care, wellness, and retention in the nursing profession, which benefits the individual nurse, patients and families, organizations, and communities. Leaders are urged to identify strategies to help practicing nurses reclaim and strengthen their PI moving forward from the pandemic. These strategies include reclaiming evidence-based practice, engaging nurses in shared governance and practice improvement work, recognizing nurses for their contributions to patient care, and creating opportunities for human connections with other nursing professionals.

First Page

8844320

Last Page

8844320

DOI

10.1155/nuf/8844320

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