Nursing as discipline, profession, and labour

Abstract

The objective of this essay is to articulate theoretical-conceptual aspects of nursing as a profession, a scientific discipline, and labour contributing to reflection concerning nursing knowledge and professional practice exercised in the context of collective work in health care. It reviews concepts from sociological theory and epistemology in order to analyze nursing in the context of scientific community, and the sociology of professions, and the work process theories in health care. This paper argues that nursing has the attributes of a profession as well as a scientific discipline, and that the limits of nursing practice need to be historically and socially contextualized. It concludes that as a social practice and discipline, nursing faces scientific and political challenges which demand a permanent process of construction.