Is nursing an occupation or a profession?

Answer 1

Nurses themselves, alongside the unions which represent them, tend to designate nursing as a 'profession'. This may be in response to the term 'professional' being used or perceived as a value statement rather than a classification of title.

Social scientists, in contrast, tend to classify nurses as 'paraprofessionals' or 'semi-professionals'.

To a social scientist 'profession' is defined on a spectrum. In their field, they recognise that nursing has many characteristics of a profession, such as specialised education and a professional board, but not all, such as high levels of autonomy or personal responsibility.

No doubt nurses are necessary for our society to function properly. While this is an interesting question, a much more important focus is on the role of occupations, paraprofessionals and professionals rather than the designation of those terms.