Four Viewpoints Of Professionalism In Nursing

The definition of professionalism according to The Oxford Dictionary and Thesaurus is that professionalism is “of or belonging to or connected with a profession, along with being trained, practiced, veteran, experienced, qualified, licensed; competent, able, skilled, expert, masterful, and proficient (2009).” This definition is to include all walks of life whether it be a plumber, baseball player, or even a nurse. As it pertains to a nurse the definition of professionalism according to the book Essentials for Nursing Practice, from the perspective of the patient defines professionalism as, “a patient’s acceptance of you as a professional often depends on the manner in which you convey a professional and caring image (Potter, 2015).”

To me professionalism includes punctuality, looking the part, not being biased on one’s own beliefs and values, working in a team setting and putting the patients first, adhering to your workplaces’ policy and procedures, and knowing your job at hand and what is expected from you as a nurse. In the article, Perceptions of Professionalism Among Nursing Faculty and Nursing Students,” four different viewpoints of professionalism emerged and can be looked at from the view of humanists, the portrayers, facilitators and regulators (Akhtar, 2013)” According to the humanists professionalism is, “respect for human dignity, personal integrity, the right for patient’s to not have HIPPA violated, and the protection of patients from being harmed (Akhtar, 2013).” From the portrayers’ point of view, professionalism is evident from the overall appearance and attitude of an individual. Looking from the facilitators’ point of view of professionalism, one can believe that this should include; “standards and policies along with personal beliefs and values (Akhtar, 2013).” Professionalism seen from the viewpoint of the regulator should be “fostered by the workplaces beliefs and standards in which they are then communicated, accepted, and implemented by its staff (Akhtar, 2013)” Each one of these viewpoints that emerged I have to agree with and can relate to the nursing and

It’s not very professional if you were to show up at a job, in jeans and a T-shirt. That may be acceptable at some facilities, but everywhere I have worked in the healthcare field its standard that one wears scrubs. It shows a sense of unity and also helps the patients differentiate between who is, staff and who is not. Hair should be up off the shoulders and pulled back, and should also be in a natural color, teeth should be brushed, close shouldn’t smell, and shoes should be close-toed. If you go to work looking all ragged and not put together, patients are less likely to want you to care for them. To a patient, they may think “well if they can’t take care of themselves, then how are they going to be able to take care of me?” I for one don’t want my patient’s second-guessing me, just because of how I look.
Having a positive and upbeat moral also shows a sign of professionalism. To a patient, it shows that you care and makes them feel like they are in good