Through Education and Work Experience toward Professional Competence - A Phenomenographic Study on Some Finnish Nurses’ and Midwives’ Perceptions

The purpose of this article is to describe graduated nurses and midwives’ (N=39) opinions on their professional competence that they have acquired from nursing education at the university of applied sciences in Finland. The data was collected in three phases through inquiries and theme interviews. The research approach was phenomenographic. The results show how working nurses’ and midwives’ opinions on their professional competences acquired from education could be divided into three categories: 1) strengthening the professional identity, 2) developing the functional professional qualifications, and 3) developing the outer functional qualifications. They also expressed their opinions on how to develop the contents of education, teachers’ instruction, and connections with working life. We created a model of the development of professional competence in nursing to help developing nursing education at the universities of applied sciences, curriculum work, and cooperation with working life.