Nursing Professional Behavior - Essay Example

Introduction Nursing has always been a respected profession since time immemorial in part due to expertise it requires and also due to the great contribution it makes in bringing about quality health care. The ladies in white and their male counterparts have long been associated with kindness, perseverance, selflessness among other positive attributes. However, as in many other professions nursing has acquired a bad name at one time or another due to some individuals conducting themselves in an unprofessional manner.

Many a times the reasons offered by nurses for such unbecoming behaviors or conduct have been high stress levels, poor pay, lack of motivation and such like while those on the receiving end blame those nurses for taking up careers that they are not cut out for. Whatever the debate, one thing is clear, nurses are expected to conduct themselves in a professional manner and exude pleasantness at all times. Therefore the purpose of this paper is to study in depth the nursing professional behavior in a bid to understand what one is expected to require of a nurse.

Before proceeding further one may be curious to ask, do the traditional nurse uniforms maketh a nurse is it the behavior that communicates professionalism The answer to this may be varied but popular opinion holds that both play an important role i.e. it is crucial that a nurse be courteous, and dress the part. Dressing helps the nurses give a good first impression as well as appear more trustworthy to the patient which is the first step in surmounting the primary obstacle in the profession.

On the other hand the greater challenge lies in sustaining this trust throughout the period which the patient is under hospital care. No doubt this can be strenuous because so much is expected from them. Some of these high expectations include putting the interests of the patient first at all times, ensuring that high quality healthcare is sustained and promoted, ensuring that the nursing care they provide to patients are personalized irrespective of the patient's religion, race or culture and so on.

(Burkhardt & Nathaniel, 20-26) The nursing code of conduct has been developed by those in charge of nursing bodies in various countries. In the US, the American Nurses Association Code of Ethics stipulates expected professional conduct and to a great degree the content is very similar in many other countries. For example, protecting the client/patient's confidential information from unauthorized persons in accordance with HIPPA Act, ensuring competence to do nursing at all times, safeguarding the general public against negative consequences arising from unethical, incorrect or illegal practices that are harmful to public health, ensuring correct and proper diagnosis and treatment of patients through exercising informed decision making, consulting with others when in doubt, having required qualifications etc.

in cases where mistakes are made by the nurse say erroneous treatment, then professional behavior demand s that the nurse take responsibility for his/her own actions. (Montgomery et al, 57-62). Admittedly, this may be hard especially where the consequence is loss of life, yet contrary to do so is unprofessional. The nursing professional behavior moves beyond direct service to patients. For example, contributing to the pool of knowledge in the profession is expected of a professional nurse. Moreover, social responsibility such as collaborating with community members in intensifying efforts to improving health care to meet the needs of the community, providing correct information to the public as regards nursing and healthcare as well as models of protecting the integrity of the nursing profession in cases where it has been tarnished among others.

Conclusion The nursing professional behavior entails much more that the superficial presentation of white attire and plastic smile. Professionalism lies in the overall package i.e. dressing, forming and maintaining a therapeutic relationship with patients, ingrained responsibility over protecting the patient's best interests as well as the integrity of the profession and lastly continually being an asset to the profession by contributing knowledge. Works cited Burkhardt, Margaret A & Nathaniel, Alvita K.

Ethics & Issues in Contemporary Nursing. ISBN 0766836290. Thomson Delmar Learning. 2002.Montgomery, Barbara et al. HOLISTIC NURSING: A HANDBOOK FOR PRACTICE. ISBN 0763731838. Jones & Barlett Publishers. 2005.