Why Professionalism is Mandate - Case Study Example

 «Why Professionalism is Mandate» Professionals are developed through critically analyzing the challenges that exist in pre-suppositions as well as premises. Other issues may exist in professionalism such as those regarding professional relationship, individual psychology and moral wellbeing. Cotton (1995) shows that as compared to other health professions, radiography has been given less attention and less commitment in terms of research. As a discipline, radiography has been perceived as one that does not require much investigation. This is because the profession is mostly based on traditional roles and experiences. This study shows the issues related to radiography profession for instance having low self- esteem or being resistance to change. The other problem can involve positioning the culture of professionalism within power dynamics and hierarchy. In professionalism the above issues have to be eliminated as they may limit individual’s development and thus lack of professionalism (Senge 2006) A professional can be described as a person who is self disciplined and is able to stand out among a group of people. Such a person possesses skills derived from either training or through studying and they should be willing to express these skills in the interest of other individuals. Glaze (1998, 151-9) shows that the current studies have shown that professionalism does not only lie among the few characters such as people pursuing law or medicine but also in other kinds of studies such as radiography. The need for professionalism has increased due to the rise of a higher standard of education. The accepted characteristics for a professional include having specialist knowledge and skills, being committed to a higher standard of service, possessing some degree of self regulation and autonomy and finally being morally upright and observing some standard of behavior. Radiography is therefore considered as a profession since the members’ involved lay claim on a certain body of skills, knowledge which tend to control the procedures involved in admission and training. Professionalism therefore involves the use of scientific theories and techniques. However, societal professionalism is only granted to a few individuals who posses accepted skills and knowledge. Some knowledge may be considered irrelevant to certain kind of individuals though others may view it as beyond capacity. Such a situation can therefore be regarded as a mean of social control and oppression (Johns 2004). Professionals are offered the right to make judgments and give advice in the areas of their specialties for example in societal issues. In doing this, the society gives up the right to judge the ability of these professionals though it does not work in cases of unprofessional conduct. Individuality therefore gives a chance for the possibility of misuse, which results to the debate about power and the professions. Sociological studies have been highly critical of the power and self-interest of professions for the last decade years. Kirsner (2000) argues that professionalism has maintained its necessity and desirable characters for instance in a civilized society other researchers have observed that professionalism is all about exercising self control and being in a position of promoting the interests of other people. Other lawful characteristic of professionalism involve the appropriation of power to control work and individual’s destiny. The issues faced involve those related to authority, management, social structure and logical exploitation. It is necessary to set up procedures which gives professionals the exclusive power to assist other people through dominance derived from knowledge and skills. Professional power not only relates to that between professionals and their patients, but also between groups of people where one of them is dominates another thus maintaining their field of knowledge and skills through claiming the right of monopoly. Rigney and Davis (2004) show development of radiography involves various aspects such as historical, political and professional which has extensively been controlled through the involvement of medicine. In order to maintain this power, professional autonomy has to be available, which means that if one profession maintains an accepted hierarchical position, controlling the practice of another, then the resulting monopoly will create conflict. In radiology, the best practice has to be maintained and thus it is seen as a monopolistic practice which is based on various factors such as offering the right service to the patient, being effective and efficient in doing this and finally the professional well being has to be maintained in the process of providing the service. According to Lawton and Wimpenny (2003, 45-41) these practices are not based on the traditional models of dominance for instance lack of significant enquiry may result to poor expertise and as such the knowledge, power base and exclusivity of any profession need to be examined as part of their accountability to the public. It is necessary to challenge monopoly especially in cases where it is possible for another professional to perform the task more effectively in such a way that it benefits the service provided as well as the clients or patients involved. The argument of expertise involves a technique which is used by a particular occupational group in order to make right and effectiveness of monopoly to become lawful and as an effect of regulating one self (Schon 1995). This shows that only the professions understands how composite and difficulty it is to carry out the processes and regulations involved in certain occupations such as in radiology. Nixon (2001) argues that professionals make the occupation seem complex to handle therefore monopolising its understanding for example through the introduction of lengthened and strict system of theoretical study, experimenting and examinations. This makes their knowledge more complex therefore enabling radiographies secure both status and income due to their exclusive right to work in a defined manner. The thought that a certain occupation is more professional than the other has been critically analysed by various researchers. The findings were that what makes the difference is the relative degree of professionalism and in this case it was stated that this degree depends on the standard used in achieving certain goals at a particular time. Professionalism is therefore viewed as a self-motivated and developing perception based on the values and control used within a given society. There are various characters that a profession has to posses in order to be in a position of performing their duties. These include the fact that they are required to possess both general and specialised knowledge that is essential in benefiting a client. The other character is that they have to be in a position of making judgments through taking significant path. Given that professionals are more of technicians, they have to acquire both general and specialised knowledge and skill needed for the practice of radiology and other scientific practices (Reeves 2002, 102-95). There are other three factors that are found within most professional activities for instance they have to act as experts, have to gain credit from others and autonomy. As an emerging profession, radiography has struggled to meet the principle needed to make a professional occupation. Lewis et al. (2008) show most of these principles have been met over the recent years for example after the introduction of postgraduate education which represents a continuing professional development (CPD) and research. However, professional autonomy has not dominated the occupation due to the medical profession which is occupied by most professionals. Studies have shown that practitioners found in radiography have a low professional status as well as a low public profile. These individuals also lack a professional recognition from the public unlike their colleagues in the medical profession. This lack of recognition makes the practitioners possess a low self-esteem and apathy which is spreads to the entire profession and has resulted to being their culture (Yielder 2005). Australian radiographers for instance are more unwilling to work beyond their stipulated scientific responsibilities due to lack of motivation and low self esteem. In UK however, much change has been noted especially in traditional roles where these radiographers can extend more services to their clients. Their perception as professionals have resulted to subsequent change thus has made them improve their concern regarding their clients. In comparing radiographies and other professionals for example nurses and doctors, whose responsibilities are well known to the public and who are many in number, arguing as a group results to making radiography lack recognition from the public and also lack professional respect. According to Wagner (2009) the Australian Institute of Radiography argues that as a group being known as a group with inferiority complex, it is possible for them to de-value their role of taking care and treating their patients. Other studies have shown that radiographers applying knowledge produced by other disciplines in the medical profession and therefore their description showed that of passive technicians who implement other people’s procedures. Levitt-Jones and Lathlean (2009) show this type of description has caused many problems today despite the introduction of other new roles about radiology in the UK. Some authors have argued that radiography should be a semi-profession as much of its knowledge base generated from research conducted by other medical practitioners such as physicists and technicians but the research was did not involve radiographers. Radiographers therefore need to do their own research in order for them to be regarded as professions and to increase their professionalism. One particular aspect needed include the increase of a culture of openness and relating with other professions. These radiographers should also share the good practice of their occupation as well as value research and training. If these developments are not put into practice, radiography will still remain as a non recognized profession. In UK however, radiography is currently experiencing major transformation through the introduction of developing responsibilities and an introduced change in how radiologists relate with each other. This will be achieved through involving certain characteristics that will enhance the social status of the occupation. This movement will also involve higher education and research regarding radiography profession. This will be necessary in the process of developing traditional roles of radiologists (Sim and Radloff 2009). In understanding the attitudes of clinical radiographers, it is important to first consider their medical power and the effects of subordination. This is represented by the ethical behaviour, morale, professional identity and power reflected to others. They have been studied as people who feel inferior among other radiologists and medical practitioners. They also feel intimidated by individuals in other occupations who seem more appreciated and valuable. Other professions seem to possess a feeling of belonging, consistency as well as fulfillment in the roles that they conduct (Henwood 2009, 8-5). Unlike radiographers, other professions in the medical field such as nurses tend to value obedience for one another, respect for authority and they are also loyal to their colleagues. These characters have greatly been expressed due to their acceptance by the entire public and their involvement as the healthcare team which is influenced by their subordinate role and the much credit they get from the public. According to Hughes (2005, 49-41) radiography students also tend to be conventional, observe, work hard and present themselves more positively in order for them to be included in the group of professionals. A compliant workplace culture that meet all the needs of staff members encourages reluctance to question and also results to low self-esteem and reduced capacity and motivation for learning. The above results show that given opportunities to develop their roles and to advance in a bid to gain recognition, radiographers tend to be reluctant to accepting change and more so new ideas. Development can therefore be achieved if practitioners are involved in the process of decision making. This will involve creating an environment that promotes critical thinking thus encouraging one to inquire more about the development of new and better practices. Medical dominance has also been found as on e of the factor that reduces the functionality of radiographers. This therefore makes them be only competent in matters relating to clinical practices but not being reflective about the culture that should be encouraged in the profession. These practitioners have been used to working in an environment where there is little access to outside information such as researching about the services they spread to their clients thus making them become reluctant to change. Radiographers should therefore be encouraged to enjoy their job, be challenged by other practitioners and be motivated to improve their skills. This will benefit them in gaining recognition and they will also be capable of spreading better services to their patients (Hilton and Southgate 2007, 265-79). This will also encourage radiographers control themselves unlike being controlled by their role which de-motivates them thus eroding effective partnership with other members and encourages practice. The kind of practice diminishes self-image and reduces growth potential since they are reluctant to change. Davis and Reeves (2004, 61-8) describes that workplace culture therefore promotes conformity among staff members and improves a pessimistic attitude especially to workers who are reluctant to changes. Not being able to accept change and lack of autonomy results to lack of contingency between individual’s response and desired outcomes. The attitude then results to motivational deficits which is characterized by passivity and lowered persistence. Other deficits include cognitive which can be referred as the inability to distinguish between existing opportunities to a control one. Emotional deficits include the feeling of sadness, nervousness and unfriendliness among other members which results to a low self-esteem. The developing role of radiographers includes technical rationality model which tend to lower the radiography education making it be known to be insufficient for professionals (Tsang 1998). There are some major factors that tend to drive the practice of radiography which include sociological factors and technological factors. Sociological factors influence the practice through understanding the formal and informal practices contained in various professions for example regarding health care. Technological innovation has also been seen for instance where currently there is an increase use of ultrasound in checking the welfare of the baby and earlier traditional methods were used. According to Hilton and Southgate (2007, 80-79) such a situation needs one to be a professional in order to avoid errors which may risk the life of a mother or that of a child. It is for this reason that makes radiographers be termed as professionals since their roles deal with the matter of life and death. Their knowledge has been dominated by other disciplines such as sociology, physics and the study of radiology itself. The source of change in the profession has mostly been driven by consumer wants and the economic condition. The recent changes in the health care delivery system and the technological improvement has seen radiographers involved in more roles and responsibilities and thus they are able to extend their services to more people (Bolderston 2005, 14-5). Conclusion Resistance from change has resulted to reduced recognition of the profession. This is because most radiographers fear taking more roles such as conduction of research work. The radiology profession also lack autonomy this is because they mostly feel inferior among other professional occupations. It can be concluded that in radiology professionalism is mandate since what is mostly needed in the profession is power which is not located with individuals but the relationship that various individuals have with one another influences power. Radiographers therefore need to be more assertive and confidence in their profession as this will induce more power. They will also be capable of embracing changes which will reform health care centers and increase their roles. Radiographers also need to overcome apathy once they prove them self as professionals. The move will improve their self esteem and confidence in their roles they will therefore be recognised by the public thus be given more credit. Reference List Bolderston, A. 2005. Advanced practice issues for radiation therapists in the province of Ontario, A case study 26, no. 2, 14-5. 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