Professionalism in Nursing: A Comprehensive Overview of the Concept

This essay delves into the multifaceted concept of professionalism within the nursing field. It begins by defining professionalism as a combination of cognitive, attitudinal, and psychomotor factors, emphasizing the importance of setting high standards to ensure safe and proficient clinical practice. The essay then outlines key characteristics of a professional nurse, including the application of theoretical knowledge, sharing knowledge with colleagues and patients, prioritizing people through emotional competence, accountability, ethical decision-making, problem-solving abilities, evidence-based practice, and a patient-centered approach. Furthermore, it highlights the significance of reflective practice, leadership, inquiry, lifelong learning, and fostering collaborative partnerships. The essay concludes by stressing the impact of value factors like respect, dignity, honesty, and trust, as well as the importance of personal appearance, all of which contribute to a favorable outcome for patients.

Professionalism in Nursing

Contents
The concept of professionalism............................................................................3
Characteristics that a professional displays..........................................................3
References.............................................................................................................6

The concept of professionalism
Professionalism is a concept that means different to everyone. When it comes to
professionalism in nursing, some relate it to nurse’s appearance and attitude,
some to nurse’s knowledge and skills set and while others might view it as the
continuous experience to enhance nursing practices. I believe professionalism is
a combination of cognitive, attitudinal and psychomotor factors (Ghadirian et
al., 2014). I think the standards I will set for my nursing practice will define my
competent level during service provision. I think professionalism is a set of
standards that demonstrates a desired and attainable degree of performance that
can be compared with a nurse's actual performance. I believe one of the most
significant objectives of maintaining professionalism is to sustain safe and
clinically proficient nursing practice. Professionalism is like a framework for
growing clinical proficiency checklists or competency evaluations for a nurse.
The professional approach in nursing can ensure that I am accountable for our
clinical decisions and actions, and for upholding competence during my career
as a nurse. Professionalism in nursing promotes patient centred care to achieve
best possible outcome, and reduce the risk exposure (Davis & Charlotte, 2014).
Characteristics that a professional displays
I think knowledge is one basic characteristic that all nurses have to achieve
professionalism. Nurses should have theoretical knowledge which can be

applied clinically. I think the nurse must use information or evidence from a
range of sources. I also think that it is very important to share the knowledge
with colleagues, clients, family and others to in order to consistently improve
delivery of care. I think professionalism in nursing should facilitate change and
improve health outcomes for service users. Professional nurses will prioritise
people by being emotionally competent, resilient, non-judgemental and
empathetic. Professionalism also involves accountability which I think can be
achieved by practicing effectively. I should learn to understand the meaning of
self-regulation and its implications for practice.
I should learn about the State legislations and hospital policies to practice
nursing in a legal and professional way. I should also be aware and mindful of
working code of ethics to improve my scope of practice. I will be aware of
ethical values, concepts and decision-making so that I will be able to identify
ethical concerns, issues and dilemmas. Professionalism in nursing would also
involve applying knowledge of nursing ethics to make decisions and to act on
decisions. I think it involves certain characteristics like Problem solving ability,
evidence-based practiced and person-centred approach while service provision.
I believe to continuously grow in professions; nurses need to practice reflective
practice (NursingUniforms.net, 2011).
One other significant aspect of professionalism is being a leader which I believe
can be achieved by promoting Autonomy and by coordinating with the system

(Shohani & Zamanzadeh, 2017). Professionalism will involve working
independently and employing decision-making within one's suitable scope of
practice. I should also be aware of obstacles and limitations that may hamper
my autonomy and looking for means to take care of the situation. To reinforce
professionalism, I will foster a culture of innovation to enhance my client’s and
their families’ outcomes. I will show initiative and be involved in new ideas.
In nursing professionalism it is very important to have a spirit of Inquiry by
being open-minded and exploring new knowledge. I believe as a nurse I must
ask questions to generate knowledge and refine existing knowledge. I should
commit to life-long learning which can include trying to identify patterns of
responses from service-users and their context (Dikmen et al., 2016). As a
professional nurse I must understand the client’s perspective. I will also assist
the service-user with their learning needs. I also need to be involved in
professional practice initiatives and activities to improve health care (Adams &
Miller, 2001).
I will develop collaborative partnerships within a professional context and
acknowledge interdependence between health professionals. The value factors
of respect, dignity, honesty and trust also affect the professionalism positively.
As a nurse professional I am obligated to create personal relationships with the
clients through therapeutic verbal and non-verbal communication (Ahmad,
2009). It is a known fact that people judge you by your personal appearance. So,

I believe, clean scrubs, neat hair, clean shoes and a well-groomed look will give
the expression that i care about my myself as a person and hence have the
capability to care about others (Tucker, n.d.).
Finally it can be said that professionalism is a complex concept with multi
dimensions but it should be kept in mind that the outcome of professionalism
should always be favourable.
References
Adams & Miller, 2001. Professionalism in nursing behaviors of nurse
practitioners. Journal of Professional Nursing, 17(4), pp.203-10.
Ahmad, D.N., 2009. Professionalism in Nursing. [Online] Available at:
http://nurse-ocha.com/professionalism-nursing/ [Accessed 22 March 2018].
Davis & Charlotte, 2014. The importance of professional standards. Nursing
made Incredibly Easy, 12(5), p.4.
Dikmen, Karataş, Arslan & Ak, 2016. The Level of Professionalism of Nurses
Working in a Hospital in Turkey. Journal of Caring Sciences, 5(2), pp.95-102.
Ghadirian, F., Salsali, M. & Cheraghi1, M.A., 2014. Nursing professionalism:
An evolutionary concept analysis. Iranian Journal of Nursing and Midwifery
Research, 19(1), pp.1-10.

NursingUniforms.net, 2011. How Important Is Professionalism For A Nurse?
[Online] Available at: https://www.healthecareers.com/article/healthcare-
news/how-important-is-professionalism-for-a-nurse [Accessed 22 March 2018].
Shohani & Zamanzadeh, 2017. Nurses' Attitude towards Professionalization and
Factors Influencing It. Journal of Caring Sciences, 6(4), pp.345-57.
Tucker, K., n.d. Define Professionalism in Nursing. [Online] Available at:
https://woman.thenest.com/define-professionalism-nursing-11808.html
[Accessed 22 march 2018].