Important of Learning to Health Professional Area - Term Paper Example

While the need for outcome or efficacy studies is indisputable, professions also need to continue developing its philosophical and theoretical basis,which usually implies a need for more exploratory methods. Both kinds of research should be encouraged in the field, and both have relevance to clinicians. Payton approved that in all professions, such as nursing, there is a constant and pressing need to authenticate and further set the philosophy on which clinical practice is built (Knowles et. al 2003). Clear definitions and descriptions of health professions are essential for professional survival in difficult times. This academic paper provided guidelines for health professionals to explain, document, research and promote their professions. To complete the process of proving effectiveness, it is essential that health professionals undergo lifelong learning and reflective practice (Gross 2001). This academic paper will describe the concepts of lifelong learning and reflective practice, then it will discusses why both of them are necessary in this changing society. Followed by explaining commitment is important in lifelong learning and reflective practice to health professional area. Lifelong learning has been advocated by government agencies both local and international as well as private professional institutions because of its increasing importance with ensuring that health professionals are keeping up with the changing times. There are existing federal and international laws being applied to regulate professions and to serve as their early defence towards the increasing needs of the people in the society (Knowles et. al 2003). The efficacy of different health professions has not been fully explored. Some of these professions are relatively young professions and, therefore, needs all members of the field to contribute to its development (Riechmann 2000). Healthcare professionals should engage in continuing professional development (CPD) throughout their careers. This can be achieved through both formal activity, such as course attendance, and informal activity, such as reflective practice. However, about the latter, many healthcare practitioners have anxieties about when they might operate this activity and how they might undertake it (Kinsella 2001). While there are many methods of CPD, the government focuses on outcome and defines it as: ...a process of lifelong learning for all individuals and teams which meets the needs of patients and delivers the health outcomes. (Jourgin 2002). Lifelong learning is necessary to ensure that professionals are performing at a par with the constantly developing standards of their chosen profession. Commission of Continuing Competence and Professional Development (CCLIFELONG EDUCATION) provides seminars and training to provide professionals with updates with the trends in their specific professions as well as speciality certification (Riechmann 2000). There seems to be a consensus that professionals should engage in clinically research, especially outcome studies, and the overall productivity in research must be increased. However, professionals receive advanced degrees, sophistication of the research and the willingness to engage in it are increasing, but it is still necessary to increase productivity in all occupational therapy clinicians (Field 2003). In a study conducted by Colborn, she assumed that “practitioners can successfully involve in research given favourable conditions in the clinical work environment, as well as through various educational and learning experiences” (Even 2007). It is important to remember the basis of most clinical research is composed of the interview, treatment interventions, and observation, which are skill already incorporated into clinical practice. Lifelong education is the responsibility of each practicing nurse. Constant updating and growth are essential to keep abreast of scientific and technological changes within the nursing profession. Riechmann (2000) claimed a variety of educational and health care institutions conduct continuing education programs. They are usually designed to meet one or more of the following needs: to keep nurses update techniques and knowledge,to help nurses gain expertise in a specialized area of practice such as intensive care nursing and to provide nurses with information essential to nursing practice for example knowledge about the legal of nursing (Riechmann 2000). The term Continuing education refers to formalized experiences designed to enlarge the knowledge and skills of practitioners. Compared to advanced education programs which result in academic degree. Continuing education courses are more specific and shorter. Participants may receive certificates of completion or specialization (Even 2007). Nursing education is controlled from within the profession through state boards of nursing and national accrediting bodies. The traditional focus of nursing education was to teach the knowledge and skills that would enable a nurse to practice in the hospital setting. However, as nursing responds to new scientific knowledge and technological, cultural, political and socioeconomic changes in society, nursing education curricula are continually revised to meet the needs of nurses working in a changing environment. ((Kennedy 2002). According to Field (2003), Nurse leaders most frequently suggest critical thinking and clinical decision making as essential professional skills. Assist your staff nurses through continuing education to develop and/or maintain critical thinking skills, especially if they have less than a 4-year nursing education background. Continuing education builds on the educational and experiential bases of professional nurses, enhancing their practice. Experts place the half-life of professional nursing knowledge between 2 and 5 years. (Reichman 2001). That said, academic preparation without continuing education is insufficient for health care professionals, who must make a commitment to become lifelong learners. Managers should shoulder the responsibility of ensuring that this happens. Remember, critical thinking and clinical actions empower the professional nurse, and continuing education may be the key to promoting and maintaining competency, strengthening the profession, and improving patient care quality. Nurse managers should capitalize on staff’s predisposition for self-direction in learning. While the basic nursing concepts remain constant, the ever-changing health care environment requires a nurse’s commitment to learning throughout the life span. Continuing education will help minimize the stress and anxiety associated with change. (Kennedy 2002) Reflective practice seems extremely sensible. The former might even usefully be thought of as clinical intuition, founded on expertise, or as the exercise of clinical reasoning, while the latter can be seen as a retrospective review of action that leads to conclusions about future practice (Graham 2002). Reflective practice, meaning a period of ‘reflection-on-action’, is a learning activity. It sits alongside all the other learning activities in which healthcare practitioners might engage, such as formal education courses (Jourgin 2002). Sharing reflection can take place in formal clinical supervision or professional support arrangements, through structured peer review sessions, or within a mentoring relationship, which can be particularly productive in this regard (Graham 2002) .Indeed, some has seen reflection as an innately social activity, best conducted within a group. Descriptions of different professions will vary depending on who is receiving the information and for what purpose. However, all descriptions should show a clear professional identity with identifiable goals. The received information should be able to identify the uniqueness of the healthcare profession has to offer (Brookefield 2002). Arguably, the development of reflective practice can bridge the theory-practice gap and there is wealth of literature suggesting that different patterns and theories of learning can play important roles in developing reflective skills in nursing (Field 2005). However, all of this relates to the broader question of what nursing is and how it might be defined. This is when policy changes from both government and professional bodies point out trends which lead away from the identification of ‘hand on’ care as important, with both status and financial reward (Aspin 2000). Reichman (2000) presented the general secretary of Royal College of Nursing suggested that ‘If qualified nurses are content to delegate the heart of their role to others, they should not be surprised if they are supplanted in the workforce’. This reflects legitimate concern about the future of nursing. He also argued that nurses should not become the technical substitutes of doctors. The changes in the ‘core’ of nursing tasks are attributed to increased patient turnover, a shortage of qualified nurses, the present system of nurse training and the fact that nurses are being constantly encouraged to take on more tasks currently carried out by doctors (Field 2003). Contemporary policy documents reflect this latter scenario it is highly questionable how far such obvious merging of traditional professional boundaries is in the best interests of future nursing practice and eventually, the care of patients (Evens 2007). It is worth considering the question of why, despite the promotion of holistic care in nurse education for decades, nurses sometimes persist in attaching more importance to those aspects of care underpinned by medical science than those influenced by social, cultural, psychological, spiritual and emotional examples of knowledge (Riechmann 2000). Programs of nursing study are increasingly based on a broad knowledge of biologic, social, and physical sciences as well as the liberal arts and humanities. Nursing curricula now have a greater focus on critical thinking and the application of nursing and supporting knowledge to health promotion, heath maintenance and health restoration as provided in both community and hospital settings (Gross 2001). Nursing research entails developing and expanding knowledge about human responses to actual or potential health problems and examining the effects of nursing actions on those responses. The major purpose of research and lifelong education is to improve client care (Jourgin 2002). All avenues of efficacy demonstration begin with the ability to explain the philosophical principles and professional identity of healthcare professions. In other words, in order to show the effectiveness of a healthcare profession, professionals must be able to express clearly their beliefs and values both in oral and written communications. (Gross, 2001) In their day-to-day lives, healthcare professionals have many opportunities so share these principles. In a patient care setting, the nurses will routinely represent the profession to patients, other health care professionals, administrators, and family members (Aspin 2000).These representations may be an informal conversation in a hallway or a presentation at a team or family meeting or case conference. However, in order for that sharing to be effective, the healthcare professionals must have strong, confident communication skills and the ability to adapt the communication to the needs and level of understanding of others (Endorf 2001). In general, sharing is seen to be important for three main reasons referred to reflective practice. First, it allows more than one person to benefit from the reflection and to learn from it. Second, it permits other professionals to comment on the reflection and enrich it with their own experiences and observations. Lastly, it goes some way to ‘quality assuring’ the learning that takes place in reflection, ensuring the reflector is being honest with themselves and drawing proper conclusions (Kinsella 2001). However, new technological trend may help health professioners in both lifelong learning and reflective practice. The most significant change in the production of research and collection of data is the coming of the computer. New technology can be useful in accessing literature and other resources, and it can be used to create a database for multipurpose analysis (Joughin 2002). To sum up, health professionals who realize the concepts of lifelong learning and reflective practice are obvious useful in their chosen profession. Refer to registered nurses that it is important they adopt a problem-solving approach to the challenges surrounding professional development so it can offer the modern service the government has visualized. Diligence is necessary to ensure the unique valuable contributions of health professions are recognized. To keep updating knowledge has increasingly important in health professional area regard to this specific science-serving human body.Therefore, it is time for commitment to understanding and articulating the clinical reasoning process. It is time for commitment to the ownership of the meaning of occupation and activity and the responsibility to explain the phenomena as well as commitment to unity of the profession. In addition, professional management and publicly claiming the legacy of health needs commitment. It is important to gain commitment to the habilitation and rehabilitation of clients in both clinical and community settings and to the quality of life beyond to the role of medicine in the client’s care. It is also time for commitment to bridging the gap between the level of knowledge, theory, development and practice s a vital part of the health professions’ heritage. 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Kennedy, Germaine 2002, ‘Age Does Not Weary Them, nor the Years Condemn’ Australian Journal of Adult and Community Education, vol. 32, no.1, pp. 10-21. Kinsella EA 2001, ‘Reflections on reflective practice’, Canadian Journal of Occupational Therapy, 68(3):195–8. Knowles, Malcolm S, Holton, Elwood F. and Swanson, Richard A 2003, The Adult Learner: The Definitive Classic in Adult Education and Human Resource Development, Gulf Professional Publishing Company. Riechmann Hruska, Sheryl 2000 ‘Learning Styles and Individual Differences in Learning’ ,Equity and Excellence, vol. 24, no. 3, pp. 25-27. Read More