ABSTRACT
A nursing shortage is anticipated within the next decade. Knowing what factors draw individuals to the field of nursing and help them finish their degree is important for recruitment to nursing school, but what is equally important is knowing how individuals connect and see themselves in the field of nursing. One of the contributions of health communication is examining the processes of identity formation in nursing school to determine how they construct their years of nursing school. Using Qualitative Longitudinal Research (QLR) and the model of communication and identity, the research presented in this article examines the experiences of nursing students (n = 32) at one university. The research summarizes the phases of identity that can be characterized as three distinct stages of getting in, scrubbing in, and fitting in. The research also highlights what helps students stay with nursing, feel like they belong to the field, and how this can be translated into communicating what potential nurses need to succeed.
Acknowledgements
The author would like to thank the nursing students who gave up hours of their already busy schedule to participate in this research, Dr. Robert J. Green, Dr. Anna Turnage, and the two anonymous reviewers, whose comments and suggestions strengthened the quality of the article, and Emma Hopeck and Vicki Green who helped with the development of the nursing metaphor.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).