Professionalism in Nursing
Introduction
The
idea of professionalism in nursing can be understood from the concepts of
profession and professionals. A profession involves a chosen and paid
occupation that results from long time training with formal qualifications. In
this respect the individuals who have undergone the training and exhibited the
skills acquired during the training and in relation to the requirements of
their profession are called professionals. Nursing for instance requires formal
training and in the execution of duties the nurses are required to follow and
behave in a specific manner. the idea and
concept of professionalism in nursing can be traced back to the work and frameworks
of service in nursing introduced by Florence Nightingale. As a missionary, she
set high standards of commitment to service, passion in regards to giving and
loving oneself and others through excellence in service. In this regard, we
nurses also have core values that we uphold and guide us in our day to day
service to the people.
Core
values of nursing
Within any profession,
there are standard values of behavior and mode of service delivery that is
unique to it. Within the nursing profession, there are core values that are
similar across the globe. For instance all nurses are expected to uphold
honesty in their service, a sense of responsibility in promoting human dignity
and upholding that all patients are equal. In the course of service, pursuit of
new knowledge to equip them with the changing world of medicine and alongside
the desire to end patient suffering gives the nurses a code of conduct ( The professional pool seems
to have certain common value that all professional s are expected to uphold.
Among the values nursing shares with other professions include integrity and
accountability where they are expected to accept responsibility of their actions.
There are various indicators of
professionalism in nursing especially from the way the nurse behaves and
performs her duties. Attitude in the nursing profession is so important that it
enables us concentrate on our work of promoting good health to all and
appreciating that there is need to thank God for the life given to us. Without
positivity to others it becomes hard to attend to the sick and uphold to our
core values of service (
Nurses always show urgency in their quest to promote health as demonstrated by
the admission and care offered in emergency hospital cases. This is a clear
indication that we uphold promotion of human health and dignity in our service.
A common belief that your appearance can judge your level of professionalism
has been a building block to the upholding the core values. Through our
appearance and while in service sends a message that we care about ourselves
thus able to transfer this care to other and especially those in need.
Improvements
Although the nursing
fraternity has upheld the core values in their service delivery, there is need
for a show of solidarity when performing duties. There should be an observable
urge to help others as patients and as fellow nurses because working as a team
promotes good service delivery. Like any other profession, there are challenges
that come along with service delivery and thus we must brace ourselves and face
the challenges to help promote the core call of the profession; service
delivery with dignity.
In summary, nursing is a profession that
requires unique training from which a nurse understands the basic mode of
service delivery and the core values expected to be upheld in the due course.
References
. Professionalism in nursing behaviors of nurse practitioners. Journal of Professional Nursing.2001; 17:203–210
. An instrument to measure professional nursing values. Journal of Nursing Scholarship. 2000; 32:201–204
. Nursing (Separate, but equal to the medical profession). Nursing Management. 2002; 33:17
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