May 5, 2016
Introduction to the Profession of Nursing
Several decades ago, evaluations of individuals who held prestigious or non-prestigious positions in large corporations, organizations, hospitals or any high esteemed office were held to some form of ethical and moral conduct. These organizations have set out a way to concurrently maintain a safe environment for both their customers and employees. A widely revered opinion was that a way to avoid ethical and moral collapses was to hire good people, whoever those were. A theory was that good people will do good things and that bad people will do bad things: it’s as simple as that. However, this was not the case because human appearance and behavioral patterns, although sometimes seemingly predictable, doesn’t necessarily correlate with each other plus it was almost impossible to know who a good person is or isn’t before been hired to a job. Therefore, the more effective way to hold any individual to a higher standard was through rules and regulations including ethical and moral conducts; set guidelines by the organization to ensure a more conducive habitat at the workplace. One very significant factor that drives these ethical standards is professionalism; a notion that has transcended through several different disciplines and specialties over recent years. It’s become more apparent that the significance need not just be incorporated into our specialties as in medicine, law and divinity but also upheld to a certain degree in our common society. Scholars of literature believe that white-collar jobs are those that are full-time professions, having a sincere devotion to serve, having a formalized entity, been rooted upon specialized training of incomparable period and difficulty, displaying a service adaptation, and are self-governing. A student however feels that a professional is anyone who behaves in a skillful manner and has a laudable understanding of their field. By comparison, the two are searching for increased acceptance in the noble group known as professionals. The scholastic society wishes to diminish the norms of professionalism’s definition. Community sought to let itself into the elite society by broadening those norms. Each side seeks its own best claim in a never ending power scramble.
So what exactly is professionalism? Professionalism Latin for ‘Lorem ipsum’ meaning hierarchy is defined as a combination of grave understanding, mastery of skills, principles and benevolence found in those who exact themselves to a life dedicated to other individuals.
In fact, according to the southwest journal of pulmonary and critical care, Dr. Raschke defines professionalism with regards to a doctor as “someone who can be trusted to always place his/her individual patient’s best interest first, with ability, good judgment, and a caring attitude.” (Robert Raschke 2014). Professionalism now embodies many more specialties than the earliest professions of medicine, law and theology. This is due to the interjections that lie between the concepts of professionalism, and the realizations of the utmost inevitability of humanity in every profession, and most especially in our health care system. The human nature has been known to be caring, open, understanding and sometimes empathic towards one another and that allows for more heart felt connections, howbeit, the case can be made the same if not much better for a professional as well. Irregularities occur when interpersonal relationships are sometimes not founded upon when dealing with other individuals in any professional setting, and therefore affects the actual effectiveness of the Job to be accomplished. This idea holds true for several specialties as well as incumbent graduates in any specific field and is now been incorporated as significant facets of curriculum activities. “At the McWhorter School of Pharmacy, a unique program was incorporated into the orientation program for first-professional year students that uses literary stories from the humanities to strengthen the sense of a “calling to serve,” which we propose is the core of professionalism. Survey results indicate that we successfully engaged our students in a discussion of professionalism early in their professional pharmacy careers. Although our pharmacy school is part of a distinctively Christian university, we recognize that the rewards of a humanities education, and the accompanying development of humanistic perspectives of caring and service, are timeless values across the pharmacy curriculum, regardless of religious orientation.” (Am J Pharm Educ. 2007).
Furthermore, the modern notion of professionalism surrounds a great deal of attributes which can mostly be divided into two categories, structural and attitudinal. Structural attributes as in formal education and entrance requirements while Attitudinal attributes are more concerned with the ‘sense of calling of the person to the field. Both lay out a series of characteristics that in many ways quantifies the idea of being a professional. Some key characteristics will be discussed in subsequent paragraphs.
First and foremost, professionals are known for their specialized knowledge. They have made a huge personal sacrifice to broaden and improve their skillsets, and, where suitable, they have the degrees and documentation that serve as the basis of this knowledge. Some areas of expertise do not have or require a stable grasp of knowledge (and the scholastic achievement to go with it); they do not demand a sizable amount of knowledge to practice successfully; and not all professionals have top licenses in their specialties. The difference however, is that these professionals have worked tirelessly in a coherent, thoughtful and conservative manner to acquire the necessary specialized knowledge needed to thrive in their fields; and that they undergo important up-to-date exercises, through frequent examinations, or through a board of certification committee guidelines to ensure a better delivery of the work to be done. In addition to this, professionals are also very committed and willing to make sacrifices even in the most uncomfortable situations. Procrastination is not a typical nature for them as they set out to deliver well on their promises and make good on their deadlines with no excuses whatsoever.
Secondly, competency which was originally established in business management literature to seek to identify qualities that are vital to business, its affluence, and the welfare that its consumer demands. Competency simply put is application of knowledge to getting the job done. Professionals are said to be authentic and well founded, setting achievable goals and delivering on those promises. When situations arise that may sometimes disallow them from upholding these promises, they figure out a way to manage the situations up front, and resolve those circumstances; not making excuses, but focusing on results. Additionally, there are core or common humanitarian competencies to be said of business structural organizations, and these would, in an intrinsic fashion, remain pivotal to any role in the sector.
“This notion of core humanitarian competencies, initially developed by the UK-based ELRHA consortium, has now been taken up and championed by the Consortium of British Humanitarian Agencies (CBHA). They have identified and expanded upon six competencies that they believe are essential to all professionals working in the humanitarian field:
1. Understanding humanitarian contexts and application of humanitarian principles,
2. Achieving results effectively, considering the need for speed, scale, and quality,
3. Developing and maintaining collaborative relationships,
4. Operating safely and securely in high risk environments,
5. Self-management in a pressured and changing environment, and
6. Leadership in humanitarian response (Fit for purpose. 2011).”
Although these definitions of competency are not yet fully global, they have been tested in at least six countries in three languages in Asia, Africa and South America and have been adopted by several training providers. Specialties with who professionals are involved should likewise see that these competencies are incorporated into their lifestyle.
Lastly, honesty as defined by Thomas Jefferson is the “first chapter in the book of wisdom” and is an important attribute for any professional to possess. It is the ability to not just make statements but also stand by them come what may, to not compromise their values at any given situation and to continue to do the right thing even when it means take a higher road. Most professionals are held to a higher standard and are therefore accountable for their insights, actions and words. The implication of this is that whoever is far from integrity is almost always not going to be assigned a career path of a professional. More than this, professionalism entails humility. A true professional is always humble; he is able to recognize and willing to admit to himself and others when a job task falls out of his breadth of knowledge. He then seeks to resolve the solution by asking a credible source, and is willing to learn from others as well.
In any profession, what must first be identified are the factors that are dependent upon the advancement of the profession. Johnson recognized the pre-established concepts necessary to advance the profession of nursing, proving herself to be a woman of integrity throughout the course of her research and development of advanced nursing concepts/theories. In Johnson’s article Development of a theory: A Requisite for Nursing as a Primary Health Profession, she begins by defining what a profession is; “While scholars may differ to some extent on the distinguishing characteristics of a profession, there is universal agreement that a theoretical body of knowledge is an essential attribute” (Cogan, 1953; Goode 1960; New 1965). With this foundational knowledge of what a profession is, Johnson advanced the practice of nursing through theoretical knowledge development. The development of her most acknowledged theory, the Health Behavioral Theory, in which she exemplifies all of the previously explained tenets of professionalism; Integrity, accountability, competency, and excellence.
In order to fully comprehend the magnitude of information in Johnson’s Health Behavioral Theory, the identification of the foundational concepts in which she based the theory on must take place. As mentioned above, it is agreed upon that every profession has a theoretical base of knowledge, and has a mission that needs to be accomplished. Johnson realized early on that nursing did not have a specified mission, nor did it have a clarified body of knowledge established that was necessary to make advancements in the field. With this realization, she proved herself to be a woman of integrity by recognizing that the foundation of her theory was derived from a source other than her own. “Johnson used the work of behavioral scientists in psychology, sociology, and ethnology to develop her theory.” In the book, Nursing Theories in Practice (edited by Maryilyn E. Parker) Johnson states that “From Florence
Nightingale’s Notes from Nursing: What it is and what it is not, I accepted as nursing’s traditional concern a focus on the person rather than the disease.” The conceptual basis of this fact has a prevalent and heavy influence in her theory. There are two systems that a human comprises of that Johnson recognized; the biological being, and the behavioral being. The defined profession of medicine makes advancements towards the care of the biological being. The profession of nursing aims to care for the person, or the behavioral being. Johnson correlated the two systems, making each on dependent upon one another. She decided to place her full competent efforts in caring for the behavioral being as a physician would care for the biological being, making this the most important component of her theory. Johnson develops a definition of the behavioral being; “…all patterned, repetitive, purposeful ways of behaving that characterizes each person’s life make up an organized and integrated whole-a system.” This system is responsible for the interactions that it has with the biological system. For example, a person is admitted into a hospital, and he/she is being cared for biologically with medicinal practices prescribed by a doctor. The nurse cares for his/her behavioral being, by maintaining an equilibrium between the two systems. It is important that the behavior of the patient does not negatively impact the improvement of the biological system. With a balance between the two systems, the patient can recover in the quickest and most efficient manner. Johnson developed a theory that was clearly articulated and plausible to be applied to an existing hospital setting. The ability of her theory to be applied and succeed in a hospital setting demonstrates her excellency in her work. In her theory, she does mention that “In order to use this model effectively in practice, intensive study of the rich literature available on the seven response systems is essential”. She makes the reader aware that the success of her theory is accountable to other sources that must be studied. Johnson’s overall theory demonstrates professionalism in the nursing profession in every aspect.
Reference
R. R., MD. (2014, May 29). SOUTHWEST JOURNAL of PULMONARY & CRITICAL CARE – General Medicine – Professionalism: Definition and Qualities. Retrieved May 13, 2016, from http://www.swjpcc.com/general-medicine/2014/5/29/professionalism-definition-and-qualities.html
Bumgarner, G. W., Spies, A. R., Asbill, C. S., & Prince, V. T. (n.d.). Using the Humanities to Strengthen the Concept of Professionalism Among First-professional Year Pharmacy Students. Retrieved May 11, 2016, from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1858611/?tool=pmcentrez
Fit for purpose: The role of modern professionalism in evolving the humanitarian endeavor. (n.d.). Retrieved May 13, 2016, from https://www.icrc.org/eng/resources/documents/article/review-2011/irrc-884-walter-russ.htm
Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello. (n.d.). Retrieved May 13, 2016, from https://www.monticello.org/site/jefferson/honesty-first-chapter-book-wisdom-quotation
Parker, M. E. (1990). Nursing theories in practice. New York, NY: National League for Nursing.
Johnson, D. E. (1974). Development Of Theory. Nursing Research, 23(5). doi:10.1097/00006199-197409000-00002