Professional Behavior in Emergency Medical Services - Essay Example

? SCHOOL Professional Behavior in Emergency Medical Services (EMS) Andrew Stroud Submitted to ABC December, 2013 Eleven Points of Professional Behavior 1. Integrity The word integrity is derived from Latin word “integer” which means whole or complete suggesting deriving the qualities of honesty and consistency from its deeper sense of wholeness. The most important attribute possessed by paramedics is integrity. According to Killinger (2010), “Integrity is a personal choice, an uncompromising and predictably consistent commitment to honor moral, ethical, spiritual and artistic values and principles” (p. 12). Traditionally, integrity is defined as doing the things right when no one is looking (Aehlert 2011, p.1383). An individual is considered to possess integrity if his actions follow a framework of principles which is internally consistent and follows logical hypotheses in beliefs, methods and measures. Thus a paramedic must exhibit flexibility and willingness to adjust these values when challenged or when an outcome of a particular behavior fails to be consistent with expectations. An essential aspect of the framework consistency is its failure to warrant arbitrary exceptions to individuals or a group that hold this framework. One can only judge the integrity of the others to the extent that they consistently follow the framework. People expect firefighters and paramedics to display high standards of integrity and honesty. For example, a paramedic is expected to tell the truth to all at the scene of incident and in a post indent scenario while narrating the events. Additionally, it is expected that paramedics would keep documentation of all records in an honest manner. Honesty refers to maintaining the log of blood pressure, heart rate and sugar level properly after each reading is actually taken when no one is looking. 2. Empathy Empathy is the ability to recognize the feelings and emotions experienced by other people. One must exhibit certain level of empathy prior to experiencing the sympathy or compassion. The word “empathy” was derived from a German word “Einfuhlungsvermogen” which was later re-translated in to "Empathie" in German (Stueber 2008, para. 2). Since empathy is the recognition and understanding of emotional state of others, its characterization is derived from the way these emotions are characterized. For example, if these emotions are characterized by physical actions or expression of feelings, understanding similar physical emotions and expressions would be central to characterization of empathy. Similarly, if the beliefs and desires are central to these emotions, then understanding and displaying the same beliefs and desires would be essential to empathy. A paramedic must show empathy for a patient in view of his or her situation. It is not similar to sympathy. Sympathy is sharing the same feelings and emotions while empathy is showing care and compassion to other person or patient without sharing the feelings and emotions while appreciating the severity of a his or her situation. As a paramedic, one needs to show concern and care about a patient recognizing that the patient is the most important concern from him or her at that time regardless how trivial the actual situation of the patient might appear to the paramedic. Also it is essential to extend empathy towards the relatives and friends of the patient and other professional health cares or fire fighters part of the situation to show your concern. Examples of the behavior that displays empathy include: Showing care and compassion to the patient and affect personnel Displaying understanding of feelings of patients and their family members and friends Respecting others Exhibiting compassionate, caring, and helpful attitudes towards those in need Displaying supportive behavior and reassuring attitudes for others 3. Self-Motivation Motivation, intrinsic or extrinsic, is a driving force that enables individuals to achieve their goals. Extrinsic motivation comes from external sources like competition and is mainly results in response to desire for rewards and recognitions. On the other hand, intrinsic motivation come from inside of the individual rather than external pressures. It refers to the things individuals find happiness and sense of achievement in doing. People are surrounded by the external and internal sources of motivation; however, in absence of such factors one needs to learn how to motivate himself or herself, and is referred to as self-motivation. Self-motivation increase the ability to effectively respond and overcome challenges in life. Self-motivation influences all aspects of life in a positive manner like Enhances self-esteem Results in drive for success Enables individuals to achieve goals and objectives Enhances the quality of personal and professional life The paramedics must be self-motivated which requires intrinsic drive (Sansone and Harackiewicz 2000, p.106). In addition, a paramedic or firefighter also needs to be self-directed means that he should be able to complete the job in a professional manner without seeking guidance at each step of the task. Examples of behavior showing self-motivation include: Taking initiatives for completing tasks like in case of emergency a paramedics responds to the situation in an automatic manner to undertake the job without waiting for command or written instructions Completing the tasks without taking guidance at each step of the procedure because it would consume much of time to wait for guidance at each step and then confirming if the step was taken in accordance with guidelines delivered Taking initiatives to amend or improve attitude and behavior Demonstrating enthusiasm for improving and learning Assuring commitment to continuous improvement Responding positively to the constructive feedback Taking opportunities in advantage to pursue learning and professional achievements 4. Appearance and Personal Hygiene Appearance and personal hygiene refers to cleaning and caring of physical body. It involves practices performed by individual for keeping the body clean. It also refers to making healthy and right decisions while interacting with individuals or groups. In medical sciences, there is a set of standards maintained to express levels of personal hygiene; however, what may or may not be regarded as hygiene varies between cultures, genders and age groups like people many cultures do not kiss or shake hands to discourage transmission of diseases through contact and these may change over a period of time. Maintaining and implementing good appearance and personal hygiene has benefits both in social and health terms. For example, health benefits include combating and preventing diseases, spreading of germs from one individual to others, and reducing likelihood of illness. Socially, poor personal hygiene is considered as sign of illness or poor mental and psychological state in many cultures, whereas, a good personal hygiene improves the perception and personality image by other people. This is essentially critical in situations requiring good manners such as workplaces and learning institutes. Additionally, good appearance and personal hygiene helps to improve self-image. Thus major advantages of personal hygiene include optimal health, prevention from diseases, high self-esteem and social acceptance. As a paramedic, maintaining good appearance and personal hygiene is very critical since people would judge how much you care about yourself and, in turn, would perceive how much caring you would be towards others especially patients since people tend to form opinion about others from looking at their physical appearance before even a word has been communicated. The importance of personal hygiene becomes more evident for paramedics since personal grooming is an indicative of the level of professionalism. Examples of good appearance and personal hygiene for paramedics and firefighters include: Wearing a neat and clean uniform Maintaining good personal grooming like shaving or trimming and combing Avoiding jewelry that has the potential to entangle especially when performing emergency rescue and CPR. Avoiding fragrances that are overbearing 5. Self Confidence According to Singh, Chaudhry and Panwar (2010), “the socio-psychological concept of self-confidence relates to self-assuredness in one's personal judgment, ability and power” (p. 8). Persaud (2011) identifies attitude where you “promise yourself, no matter how difficult the problem life throws at you, that you will try as hard as you can to help yourself. You acknowledge that sometimes your efforts to help yourself may not result in success, as often being properly rewarded is not in your control” as source of self-confidence (p. 295). Level of self-esteem directly influences the self-confidence in individuals, where self-esteem is linked to activities and social networks an individual participates and is influenced by age, ethnicity, health and body features. Generally, young individuals with poor health would show levels of low self-esteem and thus affects the self-confidence. Additionally, self-esteem is also affected by social and academic life where an individual may display different levels of self-confidence at home, work and academic institutions (Jane, John and Jose 2011, p. 29). Self-esteem can be implicit or explicit implying that self-confidence can be from two different types of self-esteem suggesting that one has distinct unconscious self-esteem or may misrepresent himself or herself consciously. This indicates that implicit self-esteem may measure different aspects of conscious or explicit self-esteem (Timko, England, Herbert and Foreman 2010, p. 679). A paramedic and firefighter must display high levels of self-confidence which refers to trust or dependency on oneself. To be self-confident, a paramedic must know his or her personality and professional strengths and weaknesses and must know how to exploit these to seek maximum benefit in his or her advantage to control the situation effectively. From view of paramedics, the examples of self-confidence include: Awareness of own strength and weakness of the personality and professionalism Knowing how to exploit his or her strengths and weakness to achieve maximum advantage in an emergency situation Trust in judgment and decision making 6. Communication Skills Communication is transmission or conveying of messages, thoughts and information through verbal or written means. According to Valenzuela (1992), “any act by which one person gives to or receives from another person information about that person's needs, desires, perceptions, knowledge, or affective states. Communication may be intentional or unintentional, may involve conventional or unconventional signals, may take linguistic or non-linguistic forms, and may occur through spoken or other modes” (p. 42). Communication requires a sender, message and receiver and can take place in varying time and space. Figure 1 below shows the basic model for communication (PMBOK 2008, p. 224). The key elements of model include Sender. One who sends the messages Encode. Translating thoughts and ideas into language understood by others Message. Output of process of encoding Medium. Method used for transmitting or conveying the message Noise. External or internal factors that influence the conveying of messages Decode. Translating the message back into thoughts Receiver. One who receives the message Figure 1: Basic Model of Communication Various effective communication skills include: Complete physical attention to the listener Make eye contact, use gestures and do not send mixed messages Understanding and comprehending the non-verbal communication Giving attention to words, emotions and feelings Build strong relationships based on mutual trust Understand the problems and troubles of others Ensure positive attitudes and beliefs A paramedic and firefighter must possess communication skills. The paramedics and firefighter must be able to exchange thoughts and messages completely and accurately with patients and affected people. The firefighter must be able to comprehend and understand the written and verbal communication. Misinterpretation and misrepresentation of messages and information whether in written or verbal form can compromise the care of patient and would lead to mistakes that are not revertible. In emergency health services, examples of communication include: Speaking in a clear manner Writing should be legible and understandable Active listening to others Adopting to different modes of communication depending upon the situation 7. Time Management Time management is the process of planning and executing control over time available to carry out different sequential tasks or activities necessary to achieve desired goals with effectiveness and efficiency. Time management is an important component of triple constraint in project management to complete the project within scope and available budget. Management of time is essential because of limited time available, conflicting priorities and multiple goals. Time management consist of set of tools and techniques that allow utilization of available time in the most effective manner. These tools include Pareto Analysis. The concept is that 80 percent of tasks can be accomplished with in 20 percent of the available time where rest of 80 percent time would be consumed by 20 percent of the tasks. ABC Analysis. This technique categorizes time into tasks that are urgent and important (A), important but not urgent (B) and those which are neither important nor urgent (C). Eisenhower Method. This method represents the tasks on two scales where horizontal scale represents the urgency and vertical scale represents the importance of the tasks developing a matrix. According to Eisenhower, “important is seldom urgent and what is urgent is seldom important” (Mindstool 2013, para 8) POSEC Method. POSEC is prioritize by Organizing, Streamlining, Economizing and Contributing Those in emergency health services and rescue services must manage their time to make maximum utilization of the time available. A paramedic must learn to prioritize tasks to provide care to patients in critical conditions allowing them to receive necessary services before patient is transported to health care. A paramedic must be punctual to ensure that he reaches at the scene of emergency well in time and when needed because a slight delay may result in losing a life. Similarly, he or she should be able to prioritize and complete all tasks in time so that emergency health services can be delivered in successful manner. 8. Teamwork and Diplomacy Teamwork is defined as “work done by several associates with each doing a part but all subordinating personal prominence to the efficiency of the whole" (Merriam-webster 2013, para. 1). Ezzamel and Willmott (1998) suggest use of accounting techniques to provide justification and highlight benefits of teamwork (p. 366). Similarly, teamwork is crucial in health care services. Kohn, Corrigan, and Donaldson (2000) recommended, “establishing interdisciplinary team training programs for providers that incorporate proven methods of team training, such as simulation” (p. 14). Xyrichis and Ream (2008) explain teamwork as “a dynamic process involving two or more healthcare professionals with complementary backgrounds and skills, sharing common health goals and exercising concerted physical and mental effort in assessing, planning, or evaluating patient care” (p. 232). Different concepts on teambuilding developed so far include Tuckman’s Team Development Model, Myers-Griggs Group Dynamics, Belbin’s Team Roles, team cohesion, conflict resolution, and decision making and leadership. In paramedics and firefighting services, teamwork and diplomacy are most essential attributes of professional behavior. Diplomacy is the ability and technique to deal with other people including other professionals, health care providers and safety personnel. As a team lead, a paramedic instructs and directs other team members to carryout emergency health services. Similarly, at hospital a paramedic should have cordial working relationships with medical staff showing consideration and appreciation to health care team and patients so that the services may be provided in the most effective and efficient manner. Examples of teamwork and diplomacy include: Leading team in crucial times Providing help and support to other team members Prioritizing team goals over personal objectives Demonstrating openness to change Ensuring effective communication with team members for problem and conflict resolution William, Rose and Simon (1999) highlight personnel delivering the emergency medical services are highly motivated and trained to work in teams; however, their effectiveness is rarely studied when the majority of the research focused on economy in delivering the medical services (p. 149). Thus it is essential to encourage teamwork and train individuals to effectively work in teams for providing emergency health services ensuring rigorous and continuous quality improvement efforts. 9. Respect Respects refers to positive feeling of esteem towards other persons, nation, religions and entities which can be received and given. It involves certain actions that represent the individual or group esteem. Respect is of fundamental behavior is most of the culture around the world. Haidt and Graham (2007) view respect as one of the fundamental values shared by different individuals and cultures (p. 99). Respect is considered to be either built over a period of time or earned through specific actions that develop trust based relationships. A paramedic or firefighter providing emergency health care must show respect, appreciation and consideration to other people including patients, their relatives, friends and his or her own team members. Examples of respect include Maintaining a polite behavior with other people Avoiding use of derogatory remarks and gestures Demonstrating behavior that brings respect to you, team members, employer and the profession 10. Patient Advocacy Patient advocacy refers to the education of patients on use of health programs and receiving required medical care. Patient advocates include both governmental and non-profit based private sector organizations. In addition, patient advocates include agencies that develop policies for improving health care system for patients. There are also organizations who are involved in creating awareness and fundraising for patient advocacy. In general, patient advocate or patient advocacy refers to both organizations and individuals. A professional providing emergency health services also acts as a patient advocate. When a patient enters emergency medical services, he or she has requested for help to improve his or her condition because his or her injury or disease is the paramount concern for the patient. A paramedic must know what special facilities or care a patient may need and how to contact for such facilities. Thus it is advisable for the paramedics to act in the best interest of the patient under treatment while respecting patient’s rights and confidentiality. Additionally, a paramedic must respect the beliefs of the patient no matter how they differ with his own. Examples of patient advocacy include: Do not allow personal beliefs to affect the care of patients Protect patient’s confidentiality Respect patient’s rights Prioritize patient’s care over personal interests 11. Careful Delivery of Services Moore (1999) defined emergency medical services as “a comprehensive system which provides the arrangements of personnel, facilities and equipment for the effective, coordinated and timely delivery of health and safety services to victims of sudden illness or injury” (p. 325). In emergency medical services, demonstrating careful delivery of services with high quality is essential to patient care involving performance and attitude evaluation. Behavior depicting careful delivery of services include Mastering the delivery of emergency medical services Carrying out complete checking of equipment and its functional operation Following the procedures and policies for delivering the medical services Working in a team environment and following guidelines from the team leader Summary Paramedics is a profession involving responsibility, public service and demonstration of specialized knowledge and skills to ensure careful delivery of services. In paramedics, professionalism includes professional attributes such as integrity, honesty, empathy and adherence of highest standards of ethics. Since the paramedics and firefighters are entrusted with helping, caring and providing medical services to the patients, thus they must possess certain attributes which represent qualities of a person. References Aehlert, B. (2011). Paramedics Today : Above and Beyond. Philadelphia: Elsevier Press. Ezzamel, M. & Willmott, H. (1998). Accounting for Teamwork: A Critical Study of Group-Based Systems of Organizational Control. Administrative Science Quarterly, 43 (2), 358-396. Haidt, J. & Graham, J. (2007). When Morality Opposes Justice: Conservatives Have Moral Intuitions That Liberals May Not Recognize. Social Justice Research, 20 (1), 98-116. Jane, M., John, W. & Jose, V. (2011). Promoting Self-Esteem in Adolescents: The Influence of Wellness Factors. Journal of Counseling and Development, 89 (1), 29-30. Killinger, B. (2010). 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