other health care occupations in an effort to understand
quality-of-work life issues and patient outcomes. Nurse
professionalism has figured prominently in this line of
research, with nursing scholars examining the characteristics
of professionalism. For example, baccalaureate
education is an often-cited factor considered critical to
fostering perceptions and attitudes of professionalism
among nurses (AACN, 2002; Miller, Adams, & Beck,
1993; Weis & Schank, 2002). In addition to acknowledging
the importance of education, research by Adams
and Miller (2001) and Wade (1999) point to factors
such as knowledge, skill level, and autonomy as key
indicators of professional nursing status. In related
scholarship, Weis and Schank emphasized the contributions
of occupational principles and service to the
development of nurse professionalism.