The Importance Of Professionalism In The Workplace

According to Merriam-Webster’s online dictionary (2017), professionalism is “the skill, good judgment, and polite behavior that is expected to do a job well.” Medical professionals must possess occupational competence, ethical excellence, and exemplary patient relations. Occupational competence encompasses more than just job knowledge. While being technically competent to perform all necessary job functions is vital, a commitment to continually improve is essential. With the rate of technological advancements in the medical profession, continued education is required to stay abreast of changes. Self-reflection is also important to know when and where personal improvement is needed. High ethical standards, including honesty, integrity, accountability,

When being a professional you must conduct yourself in a professional manner. You must learn how to treat others with respect and be loyal to yourself and your team. Professionalism, more

A professional is characterized by or conforming to the technical or ethical standards of a profession (2) : exhibiting a courteous, conscientious, and generally businesslike manner in the workplace. Being professional should be a subconscious effort in the fact that it should always be applied. When employees are professional it helps the system run more efficiently and safely. A person must me a certain criteria when being evaluated on professionalism, a person is judged based on the clients; Attitude, Values, Communication techniques, and approachability. Clients who display a committed, dependable attitude will benefit more from work exerted, and overall be rewarded with incentives. Although professionalism may be in the eye of the

Nursing is an occupation in which professionalism (or lack thereof) can have a significant effect on not only patients and their health, but the nurse’s relationships with colleagues, patients’ families and even their community. A nurse must exemplify professionalism, especially in an environment that creates increased risk for loss of life or further injury. There are many aspects that are involved with professionalism in nursing, and many expectations set up on the nurse.

My definition of professionalism is a person that carries themselves in a respectful manner. The professional is educated, has a clean appearance, well spoken, and treats others with respect and integrity. When a person is not professional it reflects poorly on the company. I have experienced unprofessional behavior quite often. I have seen nurses, and other medical professionals, act unprofessional. I will share a story of a very unprofessional situation. This situation put me in a position where I had to make a moral and legal decision and take the appropriate action. Two nurse aids were bathing a man that was in a coma. He had a penal implant from having prostate cancer. The implant was a pump. While bathing him the girls pumped his penis up, took pictures and sent the pictures to my phone along with derogatory remarks. The girls thought this was funny. I did not. I thought it was extremely unprofessional, and degrading to that patient. The girls were my friends, so the decision I had to make was not easy. I went to my nurse manager and took the appropriate action and steps. The girls did lose their jobs. I did feel bad for them, but I felt worse for that man. I had to do what was right.

Professionalism in the workplace, is the absolute key to having a successful, and smoothly run business. Professionalism is something that must be maintained by every individual within the work setting, especially in health care, whether it is the janitor, activity director, nursing assistant, doctor, or even the head administrator. Professionalism encompasses many aspects, such as teamwork, attitude, environment, knowledge, morals, and ethics.

Everywhere you go and in everything you do, professionalism comes in to account in some way or another. Professionalism has been defined as, “a strict adherence to courtesy, honesty and responsibility when dealing with individuals or other companies in the business environment” (Clarke, 2015). When it comes to the career of nursing, professionalism is taken to a whole other level. Not only does professionalism come in to account with your business professionals and peers, but you have patients with whom professionalism is highly practiced as well. Professionalism in nursing means that you are able to handle all the responsibilities given to you in an efficient and proper way. It means that when you are given an order that needs to be carried out by a doctor or a patient who needs your help, you adhere to what is being expected of you in a timely manner. Physicians put trust into nurses in order to carry out orders that are needed to save patients’ lives. If you’re not looked at as professional and responsible, it is going to be very hard to have a successful career. Responsibility is what nursing is all about. Professionalism in nursing means that along with taking on big responsibilities, you have discipline. Discipline in nursing is crucial to being successful. Not only to keep your patients safe, but so that you personally are on the ball and looked at by others as professional, therefore, making you a great nurse. Professionalism means that you have the

Professionalism to me, is the trait of prioritizing the need of the patient over one's personal interest. As a healthcare specialist in the Army, I have realized the importance of many aspects of professionalism like confidentiality while providing patient care, having an empathetic approach and making a non-judgmental decision while making the treatment plan, and finally developing the required skills with discipline and commitment to meet the best possible outcome.

F to define professionalism. He defined professionalism as to conduct to the moral and nursing guidelines of care. Then, he added that professionalism is being courteous, truthful, and honest of what is said and how someone presents themselves. As professionals, we should keep a good attitude, be liable, and take responsibility in holding your license and other accreditations up-to-date. Making every effort to do your best, showing respect, being a leader, and the skills to make good judgments are ways of acting like a professional. Furthermore, he stated that professionalism is an essential component of nursing because professionalism as a nurse is revealed by how you behave and act in the safety and overall health of patients.

Demonstrating concern and appreciation for others reveals obligation to professionalism. When dealing with professional clients, our action should demonstrate loyalty, and exceeds expectations. By doing so, we need to maintain a commitment to the highest standards of professionalism. Also, cooperate with our coworkers that can be beneficial to our tasks.

In a highly respected profession such as nursing, professionalism is an important element to staying employed and setting one’s self apart from the rest of the applicants when competing for a potential job. By definition professionalism are the qualities and traits that describe a professional. While knowledge is crucial in any profession, according to an article published by the University of Kansas (2012), “all medical professionals must strive to retain those humanistic qualities integrity, respect, and compassion that constitute the essence of professionalism.” Whether you work in a hospital or administration these three qualities encompass the core of nursing and exemplify what it means to be a professional.

We live in a time of increasing power for companies all over the world. These companies offer goods and services to all sorts of people and they employ as a whole almost the entirety of the workforce. Employees of these companies are expected to meet certain criteria in order to maintain their employment with a company. While descriptions of the type of job to be performed are usually included in a contract there are also clauses which can constrain certain behaviors and it is here in which professionalism tends to be defined in a job. While a dictionary defines professionalism as “The competence or skill expected of a professional,” what determines the “expected” qualities for a profession (“Oxford Dictionaries”)? A code of conduct is the manifestation of a company’s approach to professionalism in a work environment. I believe that following what a company defines as professionalism during work hours is what it takes for an employee to be professional. I specify work hours because I believe if a company is restricting what an employee may do when they are not on the clock it can be an invasion into a person’s life.

Professionalism is important when it comes to working at any job throughout your lifetime. After attending the college kick-off event on Wednesday, January 25, I learned more of what professionalism is in a health care profession. To me, professionalism means being the best employee that you can be. Being honest, responsible, and available are all examples of being an employee with professionalism.

Professionalism can be defined as “the conduct, aims, or qualities that characterize or mark a profession or a professional person.”(Merriam-webster) My interpretation of this definition is that professionalism is a standard that we must hold ourselves accountable to in order to provide the best service. How do we get from a basic understanding of this definition, to practicing and applying professionalism? Major attributes that lead to professionalism can include accountability, communication and reflective practice. Reflective practice in the healthcare system is when “practitioners engage in a continuous cycle of self-observation and self evaluation in order to understand their own actions and the reactions they prompt in themselves” (becoming a better university teacher…). In the day-to-day life, everyone performs a type of reflection whether it is by unconscious thought or by habit. When it is unintentional it is hard to learn and grow from the knowledge that can potentially be gained. Therefore we need to find a way to effectively incorporate reflective practice into our daily lives, especially as radiation therapy students.

We often consider a type of job that requires advanced education and training is a profession. Nursing is a profession that has different roles such as a caregiver, an educator, and a team leader. Another distinctive feature is nurses are working with other occupations that are also highly skilled. The author, Belvins (2016), mentioned: “nursing is a profession based on caring and advocating for the health of people, nursing practice is centered on the nursing process, and professional performance involves competent behavior in fulfilling the role of caregiver and team member” (p. 194). As you see from Belvins’ comment, patients’ safety and health profoundly relate to the nurse’s professional behavior which is professionalism. Then, what are the components of professionalism in the workplace? And, how to keep them?