As a nurse, maintaining a sense of professionalism is of utmost importance in order to gain respect from our peers, leaders, and most importantly or clients. As I have gone out into the field during our clinical rotations, I have experienced many professional nurses and a few nurses I would consider unprofessional. So, I have decided to touch on a few key characteristics that I think make the mold of a professional nurse. As I searched for information regarding the professional nurse, I repeatedly saw these words throughout all the literature; autonomy, accountability, advocate, caregiver, and communicator. All of those aspects are pivotal in order to maintain a healthy, therapeutic relationship with our clients and to provide the greatest, holistic care possible while maintaining a sense of respect. Brennan and Monson (2014), say it best, stating, “professionalism is an indispensable element in the compact between the medical profession and society.”
I consider autonomy and accountability a package deal when it comes to the professional nurse. Being able to work autonomously means that you handle certain situations independently while utilizing your knowledge and the evidence presented to you to come to a decision. You also have to remain accountable for the decisions you made while using that knowledge and take responsibility for those choices and any possible mistakes. These qualities are essential when it comes to operating within a healthcare team in order to gain
In order to protect nursing professional identity, they emphasised that nurses could leverage to have a greater voice in their professional identity and let compassion be the fundamental care to be delivered to patients.
Showing professionalism in your choice of field or any field is more than showing up on time or dressing the part. Webster dictionary defines professionalism as “conduct, aims, or qualities that characterize or mark a profession or a professional person.” As a nurse, professionalism is a vital quality that is required to present at any workplace. To me, professionalism means having to demonstrate a professional, respectful attitude to your surroundings such as fellow coworkers, patients, and facility that you are in. It means dressing appropriately according to your profession and arriving in a timely manner before your shift begins; as well as leaving after your shift has ended, not early.
With the continued change and increased complexity of the identity of the nurse it has led to the confusion as to what role nurses play – are they caregivers or clinicians? With the continued evolution of nurses professional identity nurses have moved away from the feminine role of just merely caring and have moved towards taking on more masculine role which have traditionally been associated with power. As traditionally power is mainly associated with masculinity and caring, which is the core value of nursing, as associated with femininity. From this it can be said that nurses have evolved from being the overshadowed caregivers to now taking on roles that traditionally would not be associated with nursing however still keeping the care element. In order to establish exactly how the identity of nurses has evolved over the years and to understand what it is today, we will look at the history of nursing as well as looking at how professional identity is formed and what factors
The standard of care has set a minimum criterion for job proficiency (Melanie T. Gura, 2008). 4. Discuss professional accountability and responsibility and their implications for nursing
If you look out for the wellbeing of you patient and express what is best for your patient then you are actively practicing the value of altruism in the field of nursing. Next, the professional value of autonomy. Autonomy is the personal value of one over themselves, free form control of others (96). An autonomous person is one who acts intentionally, with understanding and without the influences of others opinions on them.
(2014, June 6). Retrieved from ANA American Nurses Association: http://nursingworld.org/DocumentVault/Ethics-1/Code/Code-Provision-1.pdf Code of Ethics for Nurses with Interpretive Statements Provision 2. (2014, June 6). Retrieved from ANA American Nurses Association: http://nursingworld.org/DocumentVault/Ethics-1/Code/Code-Provision-4.pdf Kangasniemi, M. P. (2014). Professional Ethics in Nursing:
In order to encompass a good working environment, professionalism is very important. Professionalism is a characteristic of productive workplace. In the profession of nursing, each nurse has to display a certain degree of respect and responsibilities to meet the standard values of caring. Professionalism is critical in health care.
The professional nursing values I believe are things you can be taught and some you cannot. Nurses are special individuals who ultimately want to care for and help others as much as they can. I agree with all of these values and believe some I will need to work on myself such as competence, illness prevention and patient education. Others I believe I have based on my experience I have already had while caring for others. Some of the qualities I believe I have include: caring, compassion, dependability, empathy, focusing on the patient- defining quality of life, having a holistic patient centered care, kindness, openness to learning, respect for others their dignity and worth and sensitivity.
“More highly educated nursing workforce is critical to meeting the nation’s nursing needs and delivering safe, effective patient care….. Without a more educated nursing workforce, the nation’s health will be further at risk (Tri-council for Nursing, 2010).” As the acuity of the patient increases daily, so is the need for increases of higher education for nurses. The factor of increasing complexity of patient health require higher education for the liability of safe practice, thus is an agreeable requirement for employers to place upon the employees. Acquiring a bachelor’s degree is only an improvement for everyone.
More so it is a requisite for any field of endeavour to attain professional status, it is actually an attribute of a profession. Professional Autonomy in Nursing refers to the ability of the nurse to act based on her knowledge and judgement. Ensuring the provision of care is within the ambit of the profession. Using their expertise in delivering quality nursing care. They have the authority to take and make decisions based on professional regulations and knowledge in patient care .However
Professional practice reflects autonomy when the nurse respects patient’s rights to make decisions about their health care” (Taylor, 1997). At the nursing home, I witnessed many of the nurses discuss with the residents what they wanted to do about certain situations. Autonomy honors the fact that it is the patient and the families right to make certain decisions about health care. Nurses also are constantly making sure that they can provide their patients with the best information to help them make a more successful choice about their health care (Taylor
What does nursing mean to me? Nursing means helping people heal, meeting their needs while they are in your care, listening to concerns, protecting them from harm, and educating them how to care for themselves while treating them with dignity, compassion and respect and giving of yourself to the care of people and community. It is having compassion for people and their health and being a humanitarian, making sure they receive the best care possible. Nurses must also treat families of patients with kindness, realizing they are going through a stressful situation also. Nursing is a responsibility to provide the best care regardless of the patient’s age, race, religion, sex, disability, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or their past.
Now nurses have many roles, such as care takers, decision makers, advocates and teachers and they often assume several roles at the same time. Because of the diversity of nursing role nurses need a philosophy of nursing to guide their practice. The practice of nursing is the care of patients through a professional interpersonal relationship. Nurses apply behavioural scientific principles, biologic scientific principles, and principles of humanism in a
Background and Significance of the Study Moral integrity is the key ingredients and navigator in professional nurses that lead to ultimate goal of nursing care. It has been recognized as a fundamental part of professional nurses’ practice (Ulrich et al, 2010; Pavlish et al, 2012). Professional nurses play the largest role to support the need for individualized treatment of the patient. The goals of the profession of nursing are related to ethical and involve protecting patients from harm while providing care that is the most benefit for the patient (Bosek, 2009; Kopala&Burkhart, 2005; Helft, 2011; Susan, 2013,). Nowadays, professional nurses have encountered to face and manage with moral problem that occur from complexity of patient health problems, advances in technology, inappropriate of health care system, policies and priorities that conflict with care needs, inadequate staffing and increased turnover, or lack of administrative support (Brazil et al. 2010; Eizenberg et al. 2009; Elpern et al. 2005;
Providing care to a patient is a particularly challenging process that requires a great deal of effort from a nurse. A nurse’s ability to give quality care to their patient is an important aspect to a patient’s life both now and in the future. As such, nurses must exhibit specific qualities in their practice in order to maintain the best standard of care for their patients. Given this, I believe that the standards of knowledge, advocacy, and self-awareness are foundational to the nursing practice and to a nurse’s capacity to provide quality patient care. Knowledge