Performing Professional Identity in Oncology Nursing: A Case Study in China’s Healthcare Services

Although nurses in healthcare services have gained professional status in their own right and possess specialist skills and knowledge, there is still a consistent struggle for nurses to construct their professional identity both at the work place and in the public domain (Hoeve et al. 2013, Johnson et al, 2012). In addition to this, nurses also face increasing challenges in communicating their professionalism to healthcare clients, who do not always value nurses' skills, competence and knowledge during medical encounters (Liu, 2010). In light of these issues and with a special focus on China's healthcare services, this paper investigates the approaches through which nurses position themselves when working and communicating with healthcare clients, and how this contributes to the shaping and reshaping of their professional identities.

Based on narrative data collected from registered nurses in an oncology department in a metropolitan hospital in China, this paper employs narrative analysis and positioning theory to examine how a performative stance is adopted in the nurses' professional practice, which serves to preserve and support some of the more traditional values in the nursing profession, but in the meantime provides challenges as well as opportunities for nurses to reflect and reshape their professional identities in the fast changing landscape of China's healthcare services. The paper will also discuss how the research findings bear further implications on nursing practice and the development of nurse-patient relationships.