'I've got no idea': an ethnography of Critical Care Nurses' nuanced and ambiguous professional identities in regional Australia.

Historical sociological perspectives posit professional identity to emerge from socialisation and attainment of 'traits' considered unique to and distinguishing of a profession. Such essentialist understandings, however, cannot account for group heterogeneity, nurses' lived experiences, nor the fluidity of professional and personal identity. This article conceptualises professional identity as being both individual and collective, influenced by context, involving subjective meaning-making, and membership to a specific professional group. Drawing on ethnographic data gathered through participant observation and semi-structured interviews with Critical Care Nurses in an Intensive Care Unit in regional Australia, we identify four themes that reveal different aspects of professional identity: conceptualising professional identity; professional identity as a title and legislative requirement; professional identity as qualifications and training; and professional identity as a social performance. The findings demonstrate that Critical Care Nurses hold multifaceted perceptions of professional identity. While they collectively distinguish their nursing training, knowledge, and practice from other nurses, they struggle to articulate what professional identity is, while creating boundaries between different forms of nursing education and qualifications to construct their professional identity. These uncertain and diverse meanings of professional identity contribute to nurse identity ambiguity, while also reflecting the necessity of flexible individual and collective nursing identities.

Professional practice in contested territory: child health nurses and maternal sadness.

This research explored the extent to which Child and Family Health Nurses (CHNs) exercise autonomy as specialist health professionals within community health settings. Using postnatal depression (PND) as an example we examined if, and how, CHNs exercised autonomy within their practice, drawing on their specialised body of knowledge. A qualitative study was undertaken using in-depth interviews with 10 CHNs practising in Tasmania, Australia. We analysed the interview data thematically to identify how CHNs defined and discussed PND, the strategies they drew on in their practice, and indicators of professional identity and autonomy in their descriptions of practice as it pertained to PND. Three themes emerged from this analysis: alternative understandings of maternal sadness; technicality, indeterminancy and tacit knowledge; and identification of professional boundaries. We found that CHNs' autonomous practice was informed by understandings distinct from dominant perspectives, suggesting that this specialist area of nursing practice exhibits extensive indicators of professionalism that have been largely unrecognised. This has implications for both CHNs' professional identity and the provision of services available to new mothers and their babies.