Abstract

This work looks into the meanings of nursing from the point of view of the students in an undergraduate nursing degree program. The research took place at the Universidad Nacional de Lanús using semistructured interviews – eleven individual and seven group interviews – carried out between 2008 and 2010. A content analysis was then undertaken and the most relevant meanings in relation to four themes were selected: reasons for studying nursing, what nursing is, nursing as a profession, and working in nursing. Multiple and diverse ways of defining nursing were uncovered. Utilizing some conceptual developments from the sociology of the professions, the meanings were organized into four conceptualizations that represent ways of understanding nursing: as a vocation, as a profession, with a utilitarian perspective and with a community perspective. The conclusions reached indicate the need to broaden the debate regarding the types of nurses that are being trained.