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Mission, calling, service and their place in nursing
JEHLÍKOVÁ, Aneta
This diploma thesis is concerned with defining the terms of mission, calling, service, and searching for connections between them and nursing. In the theoretical part, we try to search for these terms and determine their meanings through historical and current literature. The empirical part of the thesis is based on qualitative research. Semi structured interviews were conducted with six medical high school students of the practical nurse program, with five university students of the general nurse program, with general nurses that were divided into two groups: those who had finished the medical school before 2004, and those who were studying the medical high school as medical assistants. The last groups for interviews were members of the Sisters of Mercy congregation of St. Borromeo. The main aim of the thesis is to find out how terms of mission, calling, and service are imagined by nurses, how these terms manifest themselves in today's nursing, and how actual they are in nursing today. Answers to these research questions arise from experience of general nurses, as well as students, and reflect their views on the research terms of mission, calling, and service. Empirical inquiry reveals that general nurses and students have a good idea of what terms of mission, calling, and service are. Among descriptions of these terms, the answers of the Sisters of Mercy of St. Borromeo are the most differentiated. General nurses divert from the profession as defined by Florence Nightingale, and they still attribute nurses the same virtues as she was imagining. Today, in nursing, the researched terms mission, calling, and service appear at least in the meaning we elaborate on here and have an archaic impression. Instead of these terms, words such as empathy or compassion are being used in today's nursing, and these words are attributed to a flawless general nurse by students and general nurses. General nurses and students agree that the researched terms perish in today's nursing, yet they still perceive that a general nurse should consider her profession as a mission, and all but three informants consider their current or future profession as a mission.
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