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Change in the Word Symbol for Nurse in Korea
Author(s) -
Cho Ho Soon Michelle,
Kashka Maisie Schmidt
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
image: the journal of nursing scholarship
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.009
H-Index - 80
eISSN - 1547-5069
pISSN - 0743-5150
DOI - 10.1111/j.1547-5069.1998.tb01303.x
Subject(s) - symbol (formal) , nursing , narrative , service (business) , psychology , medicine , linguistics , economy , economics , philosophy
Purpose: To analyze the 7987 change in the written symbol for the word “nurse” in Korea, engendered by Mo Im Kim. Design: Descriptive historical and narrative analysis. Methods: Data were collected from documents in four libraries 7992–7996 in Seoul, Korea and Dallas, Texas. Kim and 20 of her friends, colleagues, and associates were interviewed. Findings from the interviews were compared with historical nursing documents and letters. Findings: Kim's work with her colleagues and their joint endeavors resulted in a change in nursing's status and responsibilities through an alteration of the Korean symbol for nursing. The symbol change resulted in the definition of nursing moving from that of manual laborer to that of teacher or professional. Conclusions: Changing the symbol for nurse reflected the shift in nursing's responsibilities and caused a legal change in the official civil service classification of nurse. This, in turn, has changed the status of nursing and led to more professional practice.