Fundamentals of Person-Centred Healthcare Practice. Группа авторов
G. (1990). Maps to Ecstasy: Teachings of an Urban Shaman. San Francisco, CA: Mandala.
6 Professionalism and practising professionally
Caroline Gibson1, Kath MacDonald1, and Deirdre O'Donnell2
1 Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh, Scotland, UK
2 Ulster University, Northern Ireland, UK
Contents
Standards for professional practice
Maintaining professional standards
Legal and ethical responsibilities
Person‐centredness, professionalism and organisational structures
Creating person‐centred cultures
Learning outcomes
Have an understanding of the concept of professionalism in health and social care and its contribution to safe, effective, person‐centred practice.
Be able to apply examples from case‐based scenarios to assist you to make professional decisions that are person‐centred.
Be able to critically analyse the tensions between person‐centredness, professionalism, and organisational structures.
Propose professional responses to issues in health and social care that challenge person‐centredness.
Introduction
This chapter introduces the concept of professionalism and will help you to develop an understanding of what it means to be a healthcare worker. You will have the opportunity to explore the required standards for professional practice and how professionalism contributes to person‐centred practice. In the previous chapters you have explored the meaning of person‐centredness and been introduced to the Person‐centred Practice Framework (PcPF). You have learned about the attributes of staff as prerequisites for person‐centredness, the practice environment, the processes that focus on ways of engaging, which are necessary to create connections between persons and how all these considerations influence person‐centred outcomes. In this chapter you will have the opportunity to revisit the Person‐centred Practice Framework and explore issues about professionalism in health and social care, applied to this model. This will enable you to think about what it means to practise in a professional and person‐centred way.
Practising professionally
Traditional models of professionalism promoted professionals as experts in positions of power who practised in a culture that was largely paternalistic (Whitehouse 2015). In the current healthcare climate, people increasingly demand that their voices are heard in a negotiated partnership where decision making is shared (Department of Health 2010). This shift towards person‐centred approaches is reflected in global healthcare policy (World Health Organization 2015). The Person‐centred Practice Framework supports this position and advocates that health and social care professionals engage authentically, working with people's beliefs and values to place the person at the centre of the care experience. In order to achieve humanistic approaches to care delivery, it is essential that contemporary health and social care professionals can articulate and enact person‐centred professional practice (Dalton et al. 2015).
Activity
What is professionalism?
In this first exercise, you are invited to think about a person that you consider to be highly professional.
What is it about that person that you admire?
What does this tell you about the meaning of professionalism?
In your thinking you may have considered the knowledge, skills, attributes and values of a professional. You may have also considered how they present themselves, their behaviour and the way their practice is regulated.
Why is it necessary to define ourselves as professionals? Griffiths and Tengnah (2017, p. 46) suggest that the purpose of professionalism is fourfold: to protect the public; to deter unprofessional or unlawful actions; as a regulatory framework; and to enable learning by other members of the profession. As with many concepts, it is sometimes easier to develop an understanding of what professional practice is by considering behaviour that is unprofessional. Perhaps this may relate to a person's behaviour, for example how they treat you or how they treat other people. It may be in their attitude to others, putting their own needs before those of people in their care, a disregard for professional boundaries or not following policies and procedures. Professional behaviour may also be reflected in how people present themselves, for example timekeeping, their tone of voice, whether they are honest. Furthermore, a healthcare worker's behaviour outside work may also cause concern professionally, such as inappropriate use of social media or disregard for the laws of the country.
Standards for professional practice
Many healthcare‐related roles are professionally regulated. This means that each profession is governed by an organisation known as a professional regulator. In understanding the meaning of professionalism, it is important to have an awareness of the role of professional regulators. Some examples are the American Dental Association, Health and Care Professions Council, General Medical Council, Malta Medical Council, Nursing and Midwifery Council, Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia. The regulator for each professional group generally determines the standards for education and practice for that profession within a country or across a geographical region. On successful completion of a programme of education that is generally approved by a regulator, the names of individuals are added to a professional register. By having your name added to a professional register, you are agreeing to abide by the standards for that profession as set out by your regulator. Each professional regulator provides clear guidance about the required standards of practice, conduct and behaviour for members of the profession. This usually takes the form of a Code of Practice or Good Practice requirements.