Experience of professionalization in nursing assistants Experiencia de profesionalización en auxiliares de enfermería

Abstract

Objective: To describe the transition experience in nursing assistants training as nursing professionals. Material and Methods: Descriptive exploratory qualitative study, where the unstructured interview was used as a method of data collection. The participants were nurses who had previously been nursing assistants and were currently working. The sample was achieved by theoretical saturation. The interviews were recorded, transcribed, and analyzed using the content analysis technique. Results: 16 nurses were interviewed. Three categories emerged from the stories: perceptions in the training experience, where the university context and the encounter with theoretical and practical courses are addressed; facilitators at the beginning of the training process in which the agreements, losses, and negotiations to be able to study are related; and becoming a nurse where the path to assume a new professional role is discussed. Conclusions: The transition experience in the professionalization process of nursing assistants represents a real challenge that involves and affects not only the individual, but also his or her entire work, family, and close relational circle, and where the road traveled contributes to modify the imaginary of the assistant and the nursing professional until acquiring the new role.