Professionalism in the Workplace As a nurse, a person is placed at the forefront of the healthcare system. A nurse is often times is the first person a patient interacts with on the healthcare team. That impression is one that can make or break an experience and as a nurse it is your privilege to represent an organization in a professional wholesomeness. There are endless instances where professionalism is the standard that nurses are held to and tasked to maintain (Mackey, 52). Gum can be a great deterrent not only to patients but also to other nurse peers in the workplace. Several accounts have been given of nurses finding gum stuck in inappropriate places, such as under the nurses desk, in filing cabinets and in patients rooms. The risk for spreading germs is obvious, but less glaring is the fact that it may make communication less effective. Chewing gum can distract a recipient of information and can also help to distort spoken words. Taking phone orders is difficult already, when a nurse is trying to talk around a wad of gum it makes mistakes and miscommunication more likely. Imagine a doctor or nurse that had English as a second language and then combining an accent with chewing gum, the task can be nearly indecipherable. Clear precise instructions are the …show more content…
Therapeutic communication can be verbal and nonverbal and both are equally impactful. Therapeutic communication is utilized in an endless variety of scenarios from the commonplace head to toe assessment to find out if a patient feels safe or has suicidal ideations, to determining different juice options a patient might like if their favorite is grapefruit but it will interact with their medication. Nurses around the world strive to create a strong bond with patients based on healthy communication strategies that foster trust and cohesion between all members of a health