"I was actually a nurse": the meaning of professionalism for baccalaureate nursing students.

An important process in any profession is the development of professional identity. Understanding how students experience professionalism is important to provide appropriate educational experiences to foster this aspect of professional socialization. Therefore, this study investigated baccalaureate student nurses' perspectives of what it means to be professional. This qualitative study was based on Pollio, Henley, and Thompson's interpretive framework, an existential-phenomenological approach. The purpose of the interpretation was to recognize patterns or themes in an experience. Figural experiences in one's life emerge against a backdrop, or ground. Sixty-nine baccalaureate nursing students at different educational levels participated. They described specific experiences in which they felt professional. The student experience of being professional was one grounded in a world of self and others. Three interrelated themes emerged from this ground-belonging, knowing, and affirmation. The ground of self and others provides the backdrop of the experience. It is through self and others that the figural themes are experienced. The themes are inherently inter-related. For example, the experiences of belonging and knowing were affirming to students, and affirmation enhanced their sense of knowing and belonging. Implications of the findings are explored.