Aim. To discuss the actual public image of nurses and other factors that influence the development of nurses' self-concept and professional identity. Background. Nurses have become healthcare professionals in their own right who possess a great deal of knowledge. However, the public does not always value the skills and competences nurses have acquired through education and innovation. Design. Discussion paper. Data sources. We identified 1216 relevant studies by searching MEDLINE, CINAHL and PsycINFO databases in the period 1997-2010. Finally, 18 studies met our inclusion criteria. Discussion. The included studies show that the actual public image of nursing is diverse and incongruous. This image is partly self-created by nurses due to their invisibility and their lack of public discourse. Nurses derive their self-concept and professional identity from their public image, work environment, work values, education and traditional social and cultural values. Implications for nursing. Nurses should work harder to communicate their professionalism to the public. Social media like the Internet and YouTube can be used to show the public what they really do. Conclusion. To improve their public image and to obtain a stronger position in healthcare organizations, nurses need to increase their visibility. This could be realized by ongoing education and a challenging work environment that encourages nurses to stand up for themselves. Furthermore, nurses should make better use of strategic positions, such as case manager, nurse educator or clinical nurse specialist and use their professionalism to show the public what their work really entails.

Identification of key issues around understanding novice nurses' first clinical experiences may help to improve their transition from novice to professional staff nurse. The presence and support from supervisors and mentors are inevitable to keep novice nurses motivated for the profession.

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Aims Getting insight in the most crucial organizational job stressors for novice nurses' professional commitment and whether the job stressors are mediated through negative emotions. Design The study used an observational cohort design. Methods Organizational job stressors were derived from 580 diary entries by 18 novice nurses combined with measures on emotions and commitment. The diaries were collected from September 2013–September 2014. Results Path modelling revealed that lack of support from colleagues, negative experiences with patients and confrontations with existential events were most strongly negatively related to professional commitment through negative emotions. Other indirectly and negatively related organizational job stressors to commitment were complexity of care, lack of control and work‐life imbalance; only conflicting job demands, and lack of control related to professional commitment directly. Conclusion(s) To enhance professional commitment, it is important to reduce negative emotions in novice nurses by collegial support in dealing with negative experiences with patients, complexity of care and existential events and to prevent lack of control and an imbalance between private life and work. Nurse supervisors and managers can encourage nurses to share negative patient experiences, issues related to complexity of care and existential events. Impact Considering the worldwide nursing shortage and early turnover, more understanding is needed about how negative emotions mediate the relationship between organizational negative job stressors and professional commitment and the relative impact of organizational job stressors to professional commitment. The study stresses the importance of a supportive role of supervisors and nurse managers to improve the work environment and hence increase novice nurses' commitment and retention.

Tutors and mentors should pay more attention to the individual perceptions and problems of first and second-year students, both in the classroom and during clinical placements. Knowledge of the students' perceptions from the very beginning could be vital to study success.

Data from this survey suggest a link between personal and environmental characteristics and motivations to select nursing as a career. Understanding which factors predict positive orientation and attitudes towards nursing could offer educators a tool in the recruitment and selection assessment of new students.

To retain novice nurses in the profession, it is important to provide support and feedback. This enables novice nurses to deal with the complexity of care and feelings of incompetence and to develop a professional commitment.

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