Professionalism in Nursing

Professionalism 1
Professionalism in Nursing
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Professionalism 2
Professionalism in Nursing
Professionalism is the ethical values that an individual in a given profession upholds. In
nursing practice, professionalism is fundamental in accomplishing a healthy workplace setting as
it is empowered by the practice context. Basically, the concept of professionalism is a guiding
tenet that enhances the outcomes of the nursing practice, patients, organizations and systems. It
is one of the most important factors contributing to successful healthcare.
Professional Characteristics
Service performance in healthcare is very sensitive as patients heavily rely on the
healthcare practitioners to provide the best care. It is therefore critical for nurses to focus on
providing patient-centered care to the patients. However, to achieve this, nurses must possess
characteristics that will help them convey a sense of courtesy, caring and helpfulness to the
patient. These include:
Knowledgeable
Knowledge provides a foundation for nursing practice and enables the nurses to be able
to define the nature of opportunities, identify problems and find solutions as well as maintain
competence. According to Regan, Laschinger and Wong (2016), knowledge also helps nurses to
form autonomous collaborative decisions as well as use discretion in their nursing practice.
Knowledge is therefore important in professional nursing as it supports safe, competent,
compassionate and ethical evidence-based practice.
Ethical

Professionalism 3
Ethical nurses adhere to the moral and legal obligations of the practice. Since nurses are
usually acting in the interest of the patients to provide medical care, they must be able to
recognize and uphold that practice and ethical standards apply in conducting oneself as well as
interaction with the patients (Tanaka, Taketomi, Yonemitsu and Kawamoto 2016). It is a
requirement that nurses conduct themselves in a way which promotes collegial and professional
relationships as well as recognize professionally expected behaviors.
Honesty and Integrity
To ensure patient-centered care, nurses must be trusted by the patients. Patients depend
on the nurses to precisely survey and communicate their requirements to other healthcare team
members, to skillfully perform treatments and oversee medications as well as maintain the
privacy of their medical data. A good nurse should be honest with the patients so as to maintain
high moral standards by reliably acting in a way that advances and keeps up the trust set by the
patients and colleagues. Honesty and integrity ensure nurses do not compromise their ethical
values and nursing responsibilities.
Professional Behaviors
Professional behaviors are patterns which follow the legal and ethical codes of conduct
by promoting the well-being of the patient, healthcare workers as well as the nurse. Professional
behavior shows respect for the human rights of individuals and enhances the public trust and
confidence. The acceptable and appropriate professional behaviors for nurses include:
Professional boundaries
These are therapeutic relationships that focus on meeting the healthcare needs of a
patient. Since the boundaries between personal and professional as well as friendship and