Professionalism in Healthcare: Difference between revisions
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== Introduction == | == Introduction == | ||
Professionalism is an important but complex concept in healthcare. A multitude of studies on the definition of professionalism in healthcare highlights this complexity. It is clear though that without professionalism the quality of healthcare, patient and illness outcomes, patient safety and trust between healthcare professionals are negatively affected.<ref>Chan LY, Ganapathy S. [https://mededpublish.org/articles/14-15 Exploring the understanding of healthcare professionalism and perceived barriers and enablers towards the display of professionalism: a qualitative study.] MedEdPublish. 2024 Mar 20;14:15.</ref> | |||
== Definitions of Professionalism in Healthcare == | |||
“It is a combination of having abilities, knowledge and skills which are sufficient to work and provide services to patients and those on the receiving end of the health service. This is in order to efficiently achieve good treatment results while ensuring safety in receiving such services. | “It is a combination of having abilities, knowledge and skills which are sufficient to work and provide services to patients and those on the receiving end of the health service. This is in order to efficiently achieve good treatment results while ensuring safety in receiving such services. | ||
Revision as of 14:06, 30 March 2024
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Introduction[edit | edit source]
Professionalism is an important but complex concept in healthcare. A multitude of studies on the definition of professionalism in healthcare highlights this complexity. It is clear though that without professionalism the quality of healthcare, patient and illness outcomes, patient safety and trust between healthcare professionals are negatively affected.[1]
Definitions of Professionalism in Healthcare[edit | edit source]
“It is a combination of having abilities, knowledge and skills which are sufficient to work and provide services to patients and those on the receiving end of the health service. This is in order to efficiently achieve good treatment results while ensuring safety in receiving such services.
Merriam Webster
“Professionalism is “the attributes, behaviours, responsibilities, principles and objectives that characterise a profession or professional person. It implies the quality of service.” https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0976500X221111448 Desai et al Medical Professionalism and Ethics
Attributes and behaviour of professionalism include:
Accountability
Selflessness,
Commitment to excel
Empathy
Truth
Admiration
Sensitivity to the needs of diverse populations
Adherence to ethical principles
Professionalism is defined as the “habitual and judicious use of communication, knowledge, technical skills, clinical reasoning, emotion, values and reflections in daily practice for the benefit of the individual and community (ref no 3) In other words, professionalism emphasises humanistic aspects (attitude, behaviour, virtues and characteristics)desirable among healthcare professionals in all circumstances in addition to biomedical aspects (knowledge, clinical reasoning and technical skill)
Prerequisites qualities for professionalism include:
Professional competence
Good communication skills
Trustworthy
Soft skills
Ethical
Desai MK, Kapadia JD. Medical professionalism and ethics. Journal of Pharmacology and Pharmacotherapeutics. 2022 Jun;13(2):113-8.
Overlap Ethics and Proffessionalism
Ethical Principles Professionalism Table 2
Autonomy:
Different organisations and links to their sites
Professionism as defined by different groups of healthcare students
chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1138018.pdf
Professional Behaviour in healthcare
Core competencies expected in the delivery of healthcare services are: chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.2147/JHL.S383069
Altruism
Dependability
Responsibility
Quest for excellence
Appreciation of duty
Agency
Honesty
Rectitude and integrity
Collegiality
Respect for others
Continuous learning and improvement
humility
Unprofessional behaviour
Unfortunately in the clinical workplace, many healthcare professionals experience and perceive unprofessional behaviour. In a study investigating the type and frequency of perceived unprofessional behaviours among healthcare professionals it was found that 63 % experience unprofessional behaviour at least once a month. This includes behaviour such as professionals not responding to calls / requests, being excluded form decision-making and blaming behaviour. Dabekaussen KF, Scheepers RA, Heineman E, Haber AL, Lombarts KM, Jaarsma DA, Shapiro J. Health care professionals’ perceptions of unprofessional behaviour in the clinical workplace. PLoS One. 2023 Jan 19;18(1):e0280444.
Examples Unprofessional behaviours
Bullying
Defined according to direction
Lateral violence – professional against professional
Vertical violence – bullying from the top
Employers against employees
Unfair work practices
Abuse of power
Bullying from the bottom up
Employers against employees
Strikes / work slow downs
Refusal to follow procedures
Mobbing – group “ganging up” on an individual with goal to remove individual from group or intimidating individual
Methods – sabotage, slander, petitions, votes of no confidence
Toxic workplaces behaviours
Eye rolling
Sarcasm
Threats
Aggression
Withholding important patient information
Disrespect
Rude
Condescending remarks
Scapegoating
MacLean L, Coombs C, Breda K. Unprofessional workplace conduct... defining and defusing it. Nursing Management. 2016 Sep 1;47(9):30-4.
file:///C:/Users/wanda/Downloads/unprofessional_workplace_conduct___defining_and.8.pdf
Drivers of unprofessional behaviourBhardwaj A. Medical professionalism in the provision of clinical care in healthcare organizations. Journal of Healthcare Leadership. 2022 Jan 1:183-9.
High or extra workload due to limited staff or resources
Chronic fatigue
Sleep deprivation
Burnout
Low self-esteem
Personal stressors such as difficult relationships
Unsupportive leadership
Inadequate supervision
Poor organizational culture and work environment
Tolerance of unprofessional behaviour
Bigotry
Bias unconscious
Tolerance for aggression
Ill recognition for performance
Lack of opportunity for professional growh and development
Lack of social support systems
Limited or constricted resources
Loss of autonomy and decision-making capabilities
Toxic and substance abuse
Patient perspectives on the professionalism of healthcare professionals
Regis, Steiner, Ford, Byerly have highlighted some aspects of professionalism that are highly regarded and valued by patients. These include:
Good communication
Caring attitude
Honesty
Attitude
Research into patient perspectives on the professionalism in healthcare providers have identifies four interconnected themes that describes professionalism from a patient perspective. Bulk LY, Drynan D, Murphy S, Gerber P, Bezati R, Trivett S, Jarus T. Patient perspectives: four pillars of professionalism. Patient Experience Journal. 2019;6(3):74-81.
Taking a collaborative human-first approach
Key aspects of this theme are that patients should be
perceived as a complex human who deserves to be treated as a priority
And
A vital part of the interdisciplinary team
Summary by a patient on their view of professionalism
“It’s important for people, even if they’ve been in practice a long time, to maintain some sense of humility in the face of their patient. They don’t know what it is to be the patient and to live with whatever that is that their patient has.
Clinicians must patients as humans above all so that they maintain a collaborative person-first approach to care”
Read more about person-centered care
Communicating with heart and mind
Clinicians should communicate with the hearth through demonstrating emotion and empathy and with the head through clinical reasoning and applying their clinical knowledge.
Aspects of communication that are important to patients are:
Listening
Be attentive
Implicit Communication skills such using understandable language
Clinicians should be polite and respectful,ability to develop a rapport with a patient
“Effective communication must balance pertinent information. Explicit skills (listening, building rapport, caring) and implicit skills (come from the heart, empathy)
Patients want clinicians to “think about what the patient is hearing”
Behaving with integrity
Patients expect clinicians to tell the truth
Clinicians should maintain professional boundaries
Adhere to ethical standard and maintain confidentiality
Patients ask of clinicians to be honest even if clinicians need to admit that they are uncertain or don’t have the answers. As long as they are willing to take action around their limitation in knowledge to allow for optimal care of the patient.
Practicing competently
Patients assume that their healthcare professionals are competent. This competence encompasses skill and knowledge, appropriate education and the correct licensing to practice their profession.
Frameworks
Medical Professional Framework
Eight identified components of professionalism in healthcare professionals
Humanism
Communication
Acountability
Ethics
Clinical competence
Altruism
Excellence
Integrity
CanMeds Framework
Seven different roles
Professional
Communicator
Scholar
Collaborator
Health advocate
Leader
Professional Bodies and the Description of Professionalism
We recommend that you consult with your country’s professional body on their definition and guidelines on professionalism. The professional bodies below are used as examples
Chartered Society of Physiotherapy (CSP) in the United Kingdom What is Professionalism (https://www.csp.org.uk/content/what-professionalism )
World Physiotherapy Ethical principles and the responsibilities of physiotherapists and member organisations Policy statement (https://world.physio/sites/default/files/2022-03/PS-2022-Ethical_responsibilities_principles_Eng.pdf )
Pharmacy White Paper on Pharmacy Student Professionalism https://www.ttuhsc.edu/pharmacy/documents/administration/professional-affairs/whitepaper.pdf
General Medical Council in the UK
Royal College of Occupational Therapy Professional standards for occupational therapy, practice and ethic
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References[edit | edit source]
- ↑ Chan LY, Ganapathy S. Exploring the understanding of healthcare professionalism and perceived barriers and enablers towards the display of professionalism: a qualitative study. MedEdPublish. 2024 Mar 20;14:15.