Professionalism in the Health Care Industry - Term Paper Example

Professionalism in the Health Care Industry Name Institution Professionalism in the healthcare department is a term that is used to describe a medical practioners’ behaviors while working or discharging duties that represent the medical field. In the field of nursing, professionalism can be identified through examination. The healthcare profession often expects the healthcare personnel to portray values that have significant effects not just to clients but to other important stakekeholders in the healthcare profession. Above all professionals in the nursing department ought to be compassionate, ethical and totally committed to providing quality care to patients (Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care, 2011) This is evident in the sense that medical analysts have recognized that medical professionals that display professionalism are likely to provide high quality care to patients. The experiences that patients undergo in the hands of a professional healthcare provider such as a nurse are fundamental in the healthcare field. This is because they always determine whether or not the quality of care meets the required expectations. High quality care, for instance, will influence patients to keep coming back when the need for care occurs in the future. There are a number of qualities that nurses and other healthcare providers ought to have while providing patient care (Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care, 2011). However personal reasons such as religion, gender and race should not in any way hamper the quality of care that is delivered to patients of healthcare personnel. Most importantly, healthcare providers show professionalism through meeting confidentiality, ethical and moral standards. Competent healthcare providers on the other hand should ensure that their fellow healthcare providers perform their duties professionally and in accordance with the healthcare education standards. There are a variety of healthcare providers and even though they are distinct, in a myriad of ways, they are all required to posses’ similar characteristics. Some of the common characteristics that a competent healthcare provider such as a nurse should have include good communication, exceptional attention to details, emotional stability, professional appearance, flexibility as well as compassion. Good communication is an essential tool especially in the healthcare field. It not only determines the way in which medical personnel relate with one another but it enhances the doctor and patient relations as well. Some patients may be having problems in expressing themselves or passing the intended information to doctors. In this case, it will be the responsibility of such doctors to exercise good communication skills in order to unravel the information from their patients. Since different individuals communicate differently due to diversity in cultures, traditions and level of literacy, professional healthcare providers should possess excellent communication abilities and standardized language etiquettes. For the purpose of avoiding language barriers in the medical department, healthcare providers must be familiar and conversant, for instance, with international languages such as English, French or Spanish (Stern, 2005). Emotional stability is also a key component in as far as the characteristics of professional healthcare providers are concerned (Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care, 2011). Professional nurses should be solid emotionally. This is because most patients often feel comfortable while in the hands of an emotionally steady doctor or nurse. Moreover, a profession like nursing is not only stressful but is full of distressing situations as well. Therefore nurses and other personnel in the healthcare department should possess the ability to accept death as well as suffering without allowing it to get personal. Medical analysts have also recognized that emotionally weak healthcare providers have the tendency of succumbing to panic attacks anxiety and depression during instances of adversity. However, while exercising toughness in their day to day duties, healthcare staff should learn to be compassionate and exercise generosity and a virtue of understanding to patients. Before the emergence of a radical healthcare restructuring, employment in the healthcare field was somewhat stable and characterized by full time personnel. However, as the healthcare system significantly changed, staffing patterns also changed and became more frenzied. This eventually necessitated health care workers, particularly nurses to discharge their duties while working under pressure and at any time of the day or night. Consequently, competent healthcare providers should be flexible to work under either overtime or full time procedures. Other characteristics that professional medical workers should have, entail being a good decision maker whereby they are able to make sound judgments at critical times (Simmers, 2009). They should also be disciplined and exhibit politeness while dealing with fellow workers and patients in general. Nurses should be able to anticipate problems in their department well and in advance and seek for solutions before they arise .Finally, since nursing is a profession that has several departments with distinct responsibilities; nurses ought to be hardworking and diligent at all times (Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care, 2011). Health care quality generally refers to offering the right care to the right patient at the opportune time. There are three fundamental aspects that define the quality of care. Such aspects include structure, outcome and process. Structure basically refers to the characteristics of hospitals, physicians, nurses,’ doctors and other stakeholders in the healthcare field. A good structure is present if there are well educated healthcare workers efficient medical health facilities, suitable hospitals, appropriate nursing homes, clinics, well kept medical records as well as good communication systems between nurses (Dunbar, Reddy, Beresford, Ramsey & Lord, 2007). It identifies whether such equipments as dialysis are in proper shape and whether nurses in a given healthcare institution are well trained and certified with the board to discharge their duties. Subsequently if the structure of healthcare is sound, then an efficient process of medical care can be guaranteed. An efficient medical process is not only achieved by possessing the correct medical equipments and right medical workers but by having the appropriate things getting done in an appropriate manner. Processes basically entail such questions as, was the cancer treated in the most contemporary manner? Or was the asthmatic patient offered the correct medication by the nurse? (Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care, 2011). The final aspect touches on the effects or the final outcome of care. After using the appropriate medical physicians or nurses and facilities for a particular sickness or disorder, there must be an expected result. It asks such questions as, was the medication or treatment offered able to remedy the disease? Together, these vital aspects are instrumental in providing care that is safe, timely efficient reasonable and patient-focused (Cahill, 2004). Different organizations have distinct industries and agencies which set guidelines and codes of practice which guides employees to discharge their duties effectively. For instance, the nursing and midwifery council is a code of practice for nurses. It lays down standards of conduct performance as well as ethics for nurses and midwives (Australian Council on Healthcare Standards, 2010). The code advocates for good nursing and midwifery practice. It is a fundamental component in safeguarding the well being and health of the members of the public. It was formulated to ensure that nurses prioritize the care of their patients as well as treating them as human beings and upholding their dignity. This is a basic principle outlined in the code which enables nurses to rationalize such trust and never overlook what a concession it is to care for individuals. For example this could entail such things as offering personal care or paying attention to patients’ inner concerns and anxieties. It also ensures that nurses work effectively with their fellow workers in the name of protecting and promoting the well being of those individuals under their care including families’ guardians and the community in general. It was put in place to ensure that nurses exercise quality practice and care every time. Lastly it plays an instrumental role in enabling nurses to exercise honesty and openness and act with utmost integrity and maintain a good reputation while discharging their work (Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care, 2011). Nurses and midwives also use the Nursing and midwifery Council (NMC) of which was created in the year 2008, as a code of practice to guide and maintain their daily practice. It is a set of fundamental principles which lays down the practice of virtually all nurses and midwives. It generally reminds such professionals of their responsibilities. Together with other NMC guidelines, the standards and advice the code serve as an essential component of supporting professional development (Malkin, 2008). The NMC code provides the yardstick against which single midwife’s or nurse’s fitness to practice is judged when called into question. This is the major aspect in which individuals associate with the code. Less than 1% of the whole number of midwives and nurses on the codes register are called to the fitness to practice centres.However all nurses and midwives require ample time to think more widely on how such a code can support them in their daily practices. While discharging duties under busy environments, it is always easy for nurses to forget about some of the most fundamental requirements of the code. Therefore nurses normally use the NMC to remind them of the key principles written in the code (Australian Council on Healthcare Standards, 2010). The nursing department and the healthcare industry are in most cases regulated and controlled by federal and state laws. Government laws that are in line with the nursing practice are most commonly referred to as nursing acts. The primary role of virtually all government’s nursing practice acts is to ensure that its citizens receive quality care under the hands of healthcare providers such as nurses (Dunbar, Reddy, Beresford, Ramsey & Lord, 2007). The government often issues such a broad directive and leaves other minor details to nursing regulators and other healthcare institutions. For example nurses and other health care personnel in most of the developed nations, such as Australia and the United States are controlled by the state laws procedures, institutional policies and other specialty bodies such as the Emergency Nurses Association (ENA). It enables nurses to be conversant with the governing laws and codes of practice, regulations as well as procedures and policies of a given healthcare institution in a given state or nation (Cahill, 2004). Government agencies play a crucial role in the nursing profession in the name of regulating staffs that work such as nurses. Most importantly the licensing of nurses is taken care of at the government level. However federal bodies like the human services and the department of health control coverage of insurance and quality of care which impact the way in which nurses discharge their duties. For instance the board of nursing is a government agency that is mandated to oversee the nursing profession. It ensures that nurses are licensed to practice their job (Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care, 2011). The board creates and administers tests that ought to be passed by for a license to be offered. It also lays down standards that must be met by nurses in order for them to get a license and renew it. Most governments oblige nurses to renew their licenses every two years and allow nurses to complete education courses in order to keep their licenses active. The board also certifies courses that will be eligible to meet the education assessment requirement. This body also approves medical learning institutions that teach licensed practical nurses on the entry level. Most significantly, it sets ethical standards for nurses and takes action when such standards are not met. On the other hand the department of health and human services is an agency that was created to protect the health of its citizens. The department also enforces rules and regulations which have immense effects on the nursing practices (Australian Council on Healthcare Standards, 2010). The department of labor is another government body that serves as a crucial role in as far as the practice of nursing is concerned. The labor imposes laws that are concerned with employees’ rights. A number of the debarments regulations calls for conditions that must be put into consideration and the sorts of coverage that ought to be covered. Such regulations entail a law that offers nurses the right to a long-lasting insurance and portability as soon as they leave their profession. Since the labor agency monitors the coverage of insurance, it has a huge effect on the medical decisions that nurses make (Cahill, 2004). In order to meet with the expectation of the general public, nurses should totally understand the duties associated with their position as effected by governing bodies’ institutional regulations and practices that impact their practice. The code of ethics and conduct for European nursing is also another body that ensures that nursing regulatory agencies impose laws that are adhered to by nurses in Europe. It guarantees the safety as well as protection of those receiving nursing care around Europe. It as well, advices nursing regulatory bodies on the vital principles to take into account while creating their own code of practice and nursing rules and regulations (Cahill, 2004). Such codes of practice have enabled nursing regulators to check the continued competence of nurses for the sake of safety and good health to patients. It has also enabled nursing regulators to impose laws that enable nurses to discharge utmost professional competences associated with the good practice and perform their duties with much dedication and reasonable care. It allows nurses to act in a manner that inspires mutual trust between themselves and their patients as a whole. Ultimately it ensures cordial relationships between nurses and patients on the one hand and doctors and nurses on the other hand (Hoyt, Yoshihashi & Sutton, 2009). Other than following codes of practice rules and regulations, I hold the view that medical practitioners like nurses ought to demonstrate due competence when exercising their duties. They should not be generally controlled by laws, regulations or codes of practice. Consequently unethical practices in the nursing department should serve as a wake-up call to nurses. References Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care. (2011). Implementation toolkit for Clinical handover improvement. Sydney: ACSQHC. http://www.safetyandquality.gov.au/our-work/clinical- communications/clinicalhandover/implementation-toolkit-for-clinical-handover- improvement-and-resource-portal/ Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care. (2011). Windows into safety and quality in health care 2011. Sydney: ACSQHC. http://www.safetyandquality.gov.au/publications/windows-into-safety-and-quality-in- health-care-2011/ Australian Council on Healthcare Standards. (2010). Fourth national report on health services Accreditation performance 2009-20010. Sydney: ACHS. http://www.achs.org.au/NAR Cahill, A. (2004). A tale of a few hospitals. Australian Health Review 27 (2). Dunbar, J.A., Reddy, P., Beresford, B., Ramsey, W.P, & Lord, R.S.A. (2007). In the wake of hospital enquiries: Impact on staff and safety. Medical Journal of Australia, 186 (2): 80- 83. Hoyt, R. E., Yoshihashi, A., & Sutton, M. (2009).Medical informatics: Practical guide for professional healthcare. New York, NY: Lulu publishers. Malkin, J. (2008). A reference for evidence based design. Chicago, CHI: Concord. Simmers, L. (2009). Diversified health occupations. London, UK: Cengage. Stern, D. T. (2005). Measuring Medical Professionalism. London, UK: Oxford University Press. Read More