Swedish-Registered Nurse Anesthetists' Evaluation of Their Professional Self.

PURPOSE: This study aimed to explore how the nurse anesthetist values their professional self, compared with their peers, and also to explore whether professional self is affected by age, work experience, and/or gender.

DESIGN: An explorative and prospective cross-sectional design.

METHODS: During April 2011, a total of 108 registered nurse anesthetists from three different hospitals were surveyed using the Professional Self-Description Form with questions covering 21 items.

FINDINGS: A total of 87 (80%) responded: 21 men and 66 women with a mean age of 45 years (range, 28 to 64 years) and mean professional experience of 12 years (range, 1 to 41 years). Four factors were found: professionalism, trait of character, scientific knowledge, and empathy, with Cronbach alpha of 0.96 overall. Analysis showed that perceived professional self depends on age and amount of work experience, but not on gender.

CONCLUSIONS: The Professional Self-Description Form exhibits satisfactory internal consistency. Work experience and age influenced the development of professional self of nurse anesthetists.