title: Nursing professional capital: a qualitative analysis.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The objective of this study was to offer qualitative support for the assertion that nurses possess professional capital.
  
  
  BACKGROUND
  Nurses embrace professional standards and tenets that have been measured as trust and ethics. By understanding forms of capital and combining quantitative public-opinion surveys and our qualitative findings, a case can be made that nurses possess professional capital.
  
  
  METHODS
  This was a focused review of existing interview data and was conducted using inductive content analysis.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Patients provided unsolicited accounts of trust and positive regard for their nurses.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Evidence supports that in combination with trust and positive regard, nurses possess professional capital. Nurses should judiciously use their professional capital to impact institutional, political, and economic policy.
authors.affiliation: Author affiliations: Assistant Professor (Dr Lasiter), Department of Community and Health Systems, and Associate Professor (Dr McLennon), Department of the Science of Nursing Care, Indiana University School of Nursing, Indianapolis.
authors.forename: Sue
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Lasiter
authors.forename: Susan M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: McLennon
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D064648:Critical Care Nursing / Q000592:standards*; D006801:Humans; D009723:Nurse-Patient Relations; D061214:Patient Safety; D017060:Patient Satisfaction; D011361:Professional Competence; D036301:Qualitative Research; D066270:Social Capital