Public service: Experienced nurses' views on social and civic responsibility

Socially engaged nurses participate in public service because of their strong sense of civic and social responsibility. Public service within the profession of nursing has a historical mandate but is not well described in the literature. The purpose of this study was to describe how experienced nurses contribute nursing knowledge in public service, rationale for their service, and types of service activities. This article reports on a subset of data from a larger qualitative study1 exploring the meaning of scholarly nursing practice within the practice setting. Thirty-six nurses were interviewed using a semi-structured interview guide. The major finding of this study is that all participants fully embraced the concept of public service as an integral component of their professional identity. Data were organized around the themes of what participants did in their public service and why they did it. Participants viewed public service as their responsibility as a professional nurse.