Building the Architecture of Nursing Professional Identity: A Position Paper From Italian Scientific Societies at The Nursing Forum 2026

Abstract

Introduction. The publication in the Italian Official Gazette (12 May 2026) of the decree activating second-cycle clinical Master’s tracks (primary care; intensive and emergency care; pediatric) has reopened a long-standing question about how specialist practice and advanced practice can be combined in concrete professional exercise. Nursing scientific societies have a stake in this transition as cultural infrastructures that connect education, regulation, the labor market, and health-service implementation. Objective. To develop a shared, policy-oriented position on how nursing scientific societies can contribute to the architecture of professional identity in Italy, using the roundtable discussion held at The Nursing Forum 2026 as the primary deliberative material. Methods. Documentary qualitative analysis of the full roundtable transcript (eight societies plus the chair) combined with reflexive thematic analysis and exploratory lexicometric analysis (word and n-gram frequencies, keyword-in-context, term co-occurrence). The position-development process was iterative, with checkpoint-based validation by the writing group. Findings and position statements. Seven themes were identified, from which nine numbered position statements were derived, addressing professional identity as social mandate; the distinction and connection between specialist and advanced practice; competency frameworks as shared language; validation of specialist education; alignment of the new Master’s degrees with workforce planning, accreditation and contracts; explicit workforce numbers; safe attribution and visibility in information systems; outcomes as the ultimate criterion; and scientific societies as cultural infrastructure. Conclusions. Professional identity should be anchored in nursing’s social mandate and made visible, accountable, and measurable. Scientific societies can connect education, competencies, accreditation, and policy, provided that workforce numbers and contractual recognition are addressed in parallel. This document is a position paper informed by a roundtable discussion; formal multi-society consensus would require the documented endorsement process described herein.