Everywhere you go and in everything you do, professionalism comes in to account in some way or another. Professionalism can be looked at as a strict adherence to courtesy, honesty and responsibility when dealing with individuals or other companies in the business environment. When it comes to the career of nursing, professionalism is taken to a whole other level. Not only does professionalism come in to account with your business professionals and peers, but you have patients with whom professionalism is highly practiced as well.
Professionalism in nursing means that you are able to handle all he responsibilities given to you in an efficient and proper way. It means that when you are given an order to carry out by the doctor or a patient who needs your help, you adhere to it and carry out what is being asked of you. Physicians put trust into nurses in order to carry out orders that are needed to save patients’ lives. If you’re not looked at as professional and responsible, it is going to be very hard to have a successful career because responsibility is what nursing is all about.
Professionalism in nursing means that along with taking on big responsibilities, you have discipline. Discipline in nursing is crucial not only to keep your patients safe, but so that you personally are on the ball and looked at by others as professional; therefore making you a great nurse. It means that you have the self-discipline to show up to work on time and ready to go because you would never and will never neglect your patients by doing otherwise. As a nursing professional, having discipline shows many things about your character.
It shows that you are able to have enough self- discipline to put aside your personal issues and life in order to provide the best are possible for your patient. It also shows that you understand the rules and have the professionalism, discipline, and respect to abide by those rules which in nursing is a huge deal because your whole career revolves around rules, whether it’s HIPAA, rules on physician’s orders, and rules that need to be followed in order to keep the patient’s safe. In my eyes, professionalism in nursing can be broken up into two different parts.
Professionalism is demonstrated when dealing with other nurses, physicians, and bosses; but it is also demonstrated with patients. When dealing with patients, professionalism in nursing means that you know what the task is at hand and you are able to carry it out keeping the patients best interest in mind. It means that rather than sitting back while you may not have any orders to carry out in that moment, you are up doing whatever you can in order to help your patients or even other nurses with patients and patients’ families because you are confident and professional enough to help in any way possible.
Professionalism in nursing also means that you put on a great face every day and a great unbiased ttitude towards your patients showing that you have their best interest in mind and are fully invested in your job to help them. Without professionalism in nursing, there really is no career of nursing. If you are not professional enough to take on the responsibility of having your patient’s best interest in mind, following orders, and being able to do so efficiently, how could you possibly be a nurse?
Professionalism in nursing has a lot to do with your gestures, behavior, and appearance. Other nursing professionals and patients as well all pay attention to behavioral actions. When you show up late to the job, hair a mess, not happy because you are tired and whatever else it could be, it affects the way you are looked at by everyone around you. That would show patients that you don’t care enough about yourself which means if you can’t even take care of yourself, there is no way you can take care of your patients.
That is unprofessional and would cause for your patients to possibly not want you as a nurse, other nurses to not want to work on a team with you because of the appearance given off; leaving no reason for anyone to take you seriously in the professional world. A lack of professionalism would also cause for your patients to not receive the proper care needed. If you are not able to apply your knowledge and be actively engaged, it gives off the impression that your skills are not up to par, creating an untrusting and unprofessional image.
A lack of professionalism in a career that revolves around communication can also lead to isolation which would negatively affect the care given to your patient. When other working professionals don’t have high respect or trust, it can leave the nurse feeling alone or like she can’t speak up to ther nurses because she doesn’t want to come off as even more unprofessional. If a nurse feels like she can’t communicate well with other professionals, it leaves confusion on patient care and leaves a higher room for error as well.
It is able to be concluded that without a good sense of professionalism in such a hands on career, the patient will not be exposed to the proper care that is needed. In order to improve professional behavior in nursing, it requires confidence. Confidence in a nurse is key in order to show your patients that you know what you are talking about. It will cause for your patients to gain more respect for you and your judgement, and it will show your co-workers that you are serious about your job. Along with confidence, professional behavior can be improved by always making sure that you put your patients first.
Care for patients should be a nurse’s first concern and demonstrating that will show your respect for your patients and their identity. Professionalism can also be improved by keeping high standards at all times; never lowering your standards based on patient situation or personal preference. Keeping high standards means always being early to hift in order to give yourself time to prepare, speak up when there is confusion so that you can learn and fix the problem appropriately, and to always be honest whether you make a mistake or not. In nursing, you are constantly learning something new every day.
There is nothing unprofessional or wrong about addressing the mistake or speaking up when there’s a question because learning is required in order to be a professional and exceptional nurse. The higher the standards you have for yourself and your profession, the more professional you will become. This whole experience has really ncouraged me to do a lot of self-reflecting in order to figure out what it will take for me to be successful, and to demonstrate a more professional manner as I continue this amazing journey of becoming a nurse.
One of the biggest personal changes that will help me carry out professionalism is coming up with a new way to separate my personal world from my working world. Emotional stability is key in order to maintain professionalism and showing your peers that you are capable of putting your best foot forward in order to provide the best care to your patients; no matter what kind of outside circumstance you ight be going through. I decided that having someone to talk and reflect to every night about what is going on in my life will be a healthy way to deal with any occurring issues.
It will also allow for me to relieve myself of anything that is on my mind so that I can move forward, put it behind me, and focus on my job at hand in a professional way. When stress isn’t properly handled, it can spiral into becoming a bigger and bigger issue which has lead for me to head down a path of unprofessionalism and altered thought perception. I feel thankful that I am aware of the mistakes I had been making and ill do whatever I can to get back on the successful and professional track I had been on before. As a result of this situation, I have concluded that I am not a shy person.
Since I am not a shy person, I need to take advantage of that and speak up when I am having confusion about anything. Communication comes into play in every single thing you do in your life which is why I should practice good communication now. Current habits and practices dictate future habits and practices which is why I need to start communicating in a more professional manor. Communication shows your peers and coworkers that you are ot afraid to speak up when you are confused because you want to learn, and know how to carry out your responsibilities in a correct and professional way.
When I start to improve my communication with professors and peers, it will show that I am responsible and take what I am doing seriously because I care enough about the task at hand to get clarification. I have learned that there is never a wrong question to ask because no matter what the question is, it will leave me with more knowledge than before which allows me to professionally carry out all tasks. Not only will I be working to find more emotional tability and carry out professional communication, but I am going to start utilizing my resources to a calendar.
A calendar will provide me with a clear schedule showing what is being asked of me and what I need to carry out. A calendar leads to no possible confusion on deadlines or tasks, and enables me to come up with a plan that will cause me to be on time to my responsibilities; therefore demonstrating professionalism. My professors have done an outstanding job of making me aware of consequences and struggles that I will face if I can’t keep track of the tasks that are asked of me.
I am fully invested in utilizing a calendar in order to keep me organized, and allow me to practice professionalism more than before. This paper and experience have really shown me the importance of professionalism in the nursing world and why I will never underestimate it again. I take what I am learning and doing very seriously because my goal in life is to help care for others. I could not see myself carrying out any other kind of career. I will work hard every day from here on out to prove to my peers and professionals that I have what it takes to be a professional and respected nurse.