BECOMING A HEALTHCARE PROFESSIONAL

Becoming a Healthcare Professional



Table of contents

Introduction2

Professional Behaviour in Nursing2

Qualities And Its Application To Nursing Patients Or Clients Across The Lifespan3

Qualities Of Compassion, Commitment, And Conscience3

Conscience4

Conscience as a driving force4

Conscience as a restricting factor5

Conscience as a source of sensitivity6

Four ethical principles7

Non-malfeasance7

Justice8

Respect for autonomy8

Beneficence8

Ethical principles and “The Code (NMC2008”8

Communication as part of professional nursing behaviour in relation to clients across the life span9

Conclusion9

References10

Appendix12

Becoming a Healthcare Professional

Introduction

Whenever an individual suffer from any sort of illness he or she relies on health service providers. Various members of the health care setting play their part in improving mental and physical well being of an individual. One of the most significant components of health care service providers are nurses.

“Constant attention by a good nurse may be just as important as a major operation by a surgeon”. These are the words of Dag Hammarskjold (the ex-President of USA) truly expressing the importance of the role of a nurse. Nurses play their integral role in facilitating a patient effectively and efficiently. This paper revolves around the professionalism of nurses. Different issues related to the profession of the nurses are discussed in this paper.

Professional Behaviour in Nursing

The practice of professional nursing as performed by a registered professional nurse for compensation or gratuitously means the process in which substantial specialized knowledge derived from the biological, physical, and behavioural sciences is applied to: the care, diagnosis, treatment, counsel and health teaching of persons who are experiencing changes in the normal health processes or who require assistance in the maintenance of health or the prevention or management of illness, injury or infirmity; administration, supervision or teaching of the process as defined in this section; and the execution of the medical regimen as prescribed by a person licensed to practice medicine and surgery or a person licensed to practice dentistry (Ehric 2002, 254).

Qualities And Its Application To Nursing Patients Or Clients Across The Lifespan

Professional nurses are expected to show a degree of special attainment, altruism, and self-sacrifice in their dealings with the rest of the healthcare settings and in return receive privileges both in the workplace and at large (Bryan-Brown et al 2003, 394).

In order to emphasize professionalism within nursing, each nurse needs to understand the opportunities, responsibilities and concerns that are integral to the nursing profession. The nursing profession is characterized by the continuing pursuit of knowledge, a sense of responsibility for human concerns, preparation through higher education, peer accountability, autonomy, and altruism. There are scores of qualities that should be there in a professional nurse. A list of variegated qualities that a professional nurse should have is attached in the appendix.

The application of these qualities in the field of nursing cultivates numerous advantages. On one hand, these qualities bring professionalism in the field. On the other hand, these qualities provide an impetus for nurse proper implementation of the care process which in turn maximizes the probability of positive outcomes and well being of the patients.

Qualities Of Compassion, Commitment, And Conscience

Compassion, commitment and conscience are integral qualities that ...