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This article raises the question of why nurses find it so difficult to create a modern, professional identity. The article concludes that there is a need - both within and outside the profession - for a renewal of the discourse on the professional identity of nurses. The study illustrates, using the work of Steen Wackerhausen, how professional identity is created through education and practice. In order to understand why the profession has not progressed from a one-sided and tradition-based self-understanding to a conceptual integration of practical skills and academic virtues, the article invokes a distinction between custom and practice and a critical culture. Inspired by Foucault's theory of discourse analysis, the article examines the construction and expression of the profession's identity. The article focuses in particular on the power that practical discourse and vocational discourse have on nurses' self-understanding. In conclusion, an alternative, critical discourse is suggested. This discourse emphasises both modern, practical abilities and academic virtues, together with a critical view of custom and practice.

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