NURS 3100 – Issues and Trends in Nursing
Assessment 1: Professional Identity and the “Most Trusted Profession”

Course and assessment overview

Course: NURS 3100 – Issues and Trends in Nursing (RN–BSN, Walden‑type undergraduate course)

Assessment type: Written essay (individual assignment) – Professional identity and contemporary nursing issues

Assessment number: Assignment 1 (Week 3–4 window, depending on offering pattern)

Length: 1,050–1,400‑word academic essay (approximately 4–5 double‑spaced pages)

Weighting: 20–25% of total course grade (typical for first major written assignment in RN–BSN trends course)

Assessment brief

Assignment title

Professional Identity, Public Trust, and the Future of Nursing

Purpose

This assignment evaluates your ability to connect the public image of nursing with your own developing professional identity and with current issues in the profession, such as staffing, safety, equity, and interprofessional collaboration. You will apply nursing standards, codes of ethics, and recent evidence to analyse how nurses can maintain public trust while responding to contemporary challenges.

Scenario and context

For more than two decades, national surveys in the United States and other countries have consistently rated nursing as one of the most trusted professions, often ranking at or near the top for honesty and ethical standards. At the same time, nurses work in environments shaped by staffing shortages, increasing complexity of care, workforce burnout, and widening health inequities. As an RN completing a BSN, you are expected to critically examine how this “most trusted profession” status aligns with everyday practice and how your own professional identity will influence patient outcomes, team relationships, and advocacy activities.

Task description

Write a 1,050–1,400‑word academic essay in which you critically examine professional identity in nursing and the meaning of being part of a “most trusted profession” in the current healthcare climate.

In your essay, you must:

1. 1. Describe your emerging professional identity as an RN–BSN‑prepared nurse. Summarise key values, attitudes, and behaviours that you associate with professional nursing (for example, advocacy, accountability, cultural humility, evidence‑based practice, lifelong learning).

1. 1. Analyse the idea of nursing as the “most trusted profession.” Briefly explain where this reputation comes from (e.g., recurring public opinion surveys) and discuss at least two reasons why patients and communities place such trust in nurses.

1. 1. Critically examine at least two current issues that may threaten or strengthen public trust in nurses. Choose issues that are relevant to your practice context (for example, staffing ratios and missed care, moral distress and burnout, inequitable care for marginalised groups, use of digital technologies, scope‑of‑practice debates).

1. 1. Connect professional standards and ethics to your analysis. Use at least one professional standard or ethical code (for example, the ANA Code of Ethics, national standards in your country, or your organisation’s professional practice model) to show how nurses are expected to uphold trust, quality, and patient safety.

1. 1. Discuss specific actions you will take to sustain and strengthen public trust. Identify a minimum of three realistic behaviours or strategies you can implement in your current or future role, such as participating in quality‑improvement initiatives, leading or supporting patient‑education efforts, engaging in policy advocacy, or mentoring colleagues and students.

Assignment requirements

• • Length: 1,050–1,400 words, not including title page and reference list.
  • Format: Typed, double‑spaced, 12‑point readable font (e.g., Times New Roman or Calibri), 1‑inch margins.
  • Structure: Clear introduction with a focused thesis, logically organised body paragraphs with topic sentences, and a succinct conclusion that does not introduce new content.
  • Sources: Minimum of three recent (2018–2026) peer‑reviewed nursing or healthcare journal articles, plus at least one professional standard, guideline, or code of ethics.

• • Referencing: Use a consistent academic referencing style required by your programme (e.g., APA, Harvard) and apply it accurately in‑text and in the reference list.
  • Originality: Submit your own work, written specifically for this course; properly cite all sources and adhere to institutional academic integrity policies.

Marking criteria (scoring rubric)

Criterion 1: Understanding of professional identity (20%)

• • High distinction (85–100%): Provides a clear, nuanced, and coherent description of professional identity as an RN–BSN‑prepared nurse, with specific examples from current practice or realistic scenarios; integrates values, attitudes, and behaviours in a way that aligns with recognised professional standards.
• Credit–Distinction (65–84%): Describes professional identity with relevant examples and some integration of values and behaviours; links to standards are evident but may lack depth or specificity.
• Pass (50–64%): Provides a basic description of professional identity with limited examples; connections to professional standards or values are present but superficial or partially unclear.
• Fail (<50%): Professional identity is poorly defined, lacks examples, or is inconsistent with professional nursing expectations.

Criterion 2: Analysis of nursing as a “most trusted profession” (20%)

• • High distinction: Offers a critical and well‑supported analysis of nursing’s trusted status, referencing appropriate data or literature (for example, national survey results) and articulating multiple, clearly reasoned explanations for public trust.
• Credit–Distinction: Provides a clear explanation of nursing’s trusted status with some supporting evidence; analysis shows understanding but may be less comprehensive or critical.
• Pass: Describes nursing as a trusted profession with minimal analysis and limited or generalised support.
• Fail: Discussion is largely descriptive, inaccurate, or unsupported by evidence.

Criterion 3: Critical discussion of current issues affecting trust (25%)

• • High distinction: Identifies at least two contemporary issues, analyses them in depth, and convincingly links them to patient trust, safety, and outcomes, using current, high‑quality evidence.

[academics.waldenu](https://academics.waldenu.edu/catalog/courses/nurs/3100)

• Credit–Distinction: Identifies relevant issues and provides clear discussion with some analytical depth and supporting evidence.
• Pass: Identifies issues but treats them mainly descriptively, with limited use of evidence or weak links to trust.
• Fail: Issues are vague, outdated, or unrelated to the assignment focus; little or no use of evidence.

Criterion 4: Integration of standards, ethics, and professional frameworks (20%)

• • High distinction: Integrates at least one professional code or standard in a sophisticated way, demonstrating how ethical principles and standards inform practice, shape professional identity, and sustain public trust.

[perplexity](https://www.perplexity.ai/search/check-online-for-assignment-co-rThsH9CEQuinOHDbR2Targ)

• Credit–Distinction: Uses professional standards or codes appropriately with clear, though somewhat limited, integration into the argument.
• Pass: References standards or codes but primarily at a surface level or only in certain sections of the essay.
• Fail: Minimal or no engagement with professional standards or codes of ethics.

Criterion 5: Application to personal practice and actionable strategies (10%)

• High distinction: Articulates three or more specific, feasible strategies for practice that clearly stem from the analysis and that are likely to maintain or enhance public trust; demonstrates reflective insight and forward planning.
• Credit–Distinction: Provides multiple relevant strategies, although links to earlier analysis or level of specificity may be less developed.
• Pass: Identifies some strategies but with limited detail, realism, or connection to the essay’s arguments.
• Fail: Strategies are absent, vague, or unrealistic.

Criterion 6: Academic writing, structure, and referencing (5%)

• • High distinction: Writing is clear, logically structured, and concise, with well‑developed paragraphs and transitions; correct grammar, spelling, and punctuation; referencing is accurate and consistent throughout.
• Credit–Distinction: Overall clear structure and writing with minor lapses; referencing is mostly accurate with occasional minor errors.
• Pass: Understandable but uneven writing; some issues with clarity or organisation; referencing contains noticeable but noncritical errors.
• Fail: Writing is unclear or disorganised; frequent mechanical errors; referencing is inconsistent or incomplete.

Professional identity in nursing grows out of everyday decisions about how to respond to patients, families, and colleagues when conditions are far from ideal. Many communities place deep trust in nurses because they repeatedly observe nurses staying at the bedside, explaining complex information in accessible language, and advocating for safety when organisational pressures favour speed over quality. Rising moral distress, short staffing, and inequitable access to care are placing that trust under strain, yet they also highlight the importance of nurses who are willing to speak up, use evidence, and participate in system‑level change. When practice is grounded in ethical codes such as the ANA Code of Ethics and supported by reflective, BSN‑level competencies, nurses are better positioned to honour the confidence patients place in them and to turn everyday encounters into opportunities for healing and advocacy (American Nurses Association, 2015).

Learning resources

1. American Nurses Association 2015, Code of ethics for nurses with interpretive statements, American Nurses Association, Silver Spring, MD, viewed 28 January 2026, <https://www.nursingworld.org/coe-view-only>.
2. Fowler, MD, Yarbrough, S & Vlasses, FR 2022, ‘Nursing’s ethical commitment to social justice in a time of complexity’, Nursing Outlook, vol. 70, no. 4, pp. 579–587, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.outlook.2022.03.008.
3. Lake, ET, Riman, KA & Sloane, DM 2020, ‘Improving nurse staffing and patient outcomes: how many nurses do we need?’, The Nursing Clinics of North America, vol. 55, no. 2, pp. 195–210, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cnur.2020.02.002.
4. Montgomery, A, Panagopoulou, E, Esposo, K, Richards, T & Maslach, C 2019, ‘Burnout in nursing: a theoretical review’, Human Resources for Health, vol. 17, no. 1, article 58, https://doi.org/10.1186/s12960-019-0402-9.
5. Turale, S & Nantsupawat, A 2021, ‘Clinician mental health and nursing in the COVID‑19 pandemic’, International Nursing Review, vol. 68, no. 2, pp. 163–166, https://doi.org/10.1111/inr.12673.