Introduction

Professional identity in nursing is established at the end of the academic life, after having lived a series of combined situations, both personal and social context, apart from the development of technical and critical judgment skills acquired in the knowledge-generating institutions. The aim is to describe the process that nursing students go through to perceive their professional identity.

Materials and Methods

Grounded theory, participants were recruited using the snowball method. Six semi-structured interviews were conducted with six undergraduate students of the eighth semester of the Bachelor of Sciences in Nursing.

Results

Professional identity is defined as a process, whose inputs are the lived experiences, both personal and contextual, that when subject to four interactive stages given by the student’s projection, choice of a profession, academic preparation, and knowledge practice, result in the perception of professional identity in nursing.

Discussion

Some authors refer that nursing has elements that distinguish it as a professional discipline, care practices, and theoretical knowledge go hand in hand, the more knowledge and practice the student has, the better the care the student will provide, facts that strengthen the professional identity of nursing.

Conclusions

Professional identity arises as a process, at the end of which is when nursing students perceive it, as opposed to other disciplines in the health area.

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