February 2024 SOCRA Source Journal - Journal - Page 15
TABLE 2:
EVALUATING PROFESSIONALISM
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Based on expectations or standards
Situational in nature
Strongly influenced by culture
Common parameters for both individuals and groups:
○ Communication
○ Punctuality
○ Competence
○ Demeanor
Professionalism is a grassroots
effort; it starts with individuals
and rolls up to the group
level. Different groups may be
evaluated on professionalism,
and people’s perspectives on
the professionalism of a group
might specifically be based
on the level of professionalism
of the individuals in the
group. For this reason,
common parameters for
evaluating professionalism are
communication, punctuality,
competence, and demeanor.
HOW TO ESTABLISH
A WORKPLACESPECIFIC CULTURE OF
PROFESSIONALISM
Establishing a workplacespecific culture of
professionalism is a three-phase
process:
1. Establish the need
for a professionalism
standard and provide an
informational overview
2. Determine the professional
behaviors to be encouraged
3. Determine monitoring and
metrics and provide support
to participants
THE NEED FOR A
PROFESSIONALISM
STANDARD
Establishing the need
for a professionalism
standard and providing an
informational overview is the
first phase of establishing a
workplace-specific culture of
professionalism (Table 3), and
a great deal of research has
been conducted on this topic.
It is important to characterize
the target audience. This
involves determining exactly
who will be involved in the
initiative, whether participation
is voluntary, and whether
everyone in the organization
will be held to the same
professionalism standards.
Once the audience has been
characterized, it is necessary to
communicate the value of the
professionalism standard to the
target audience and to their
leadership and management.
For any professionalism
standard, buy-in is necessary,
so it is important to establish
the need for a professionalism
standard. To obtain buy in, it
is necessary to do extensive
research on the specific
workplace. A great deal
of research on health care
professionalism is available
specifically about doctors and
nurses. Research on the specific
workplace should focus on
current workplace challenges;
any global standards; gender,
generational, and ethnic
diversity; and the way in which
the professionalism standard
must address diversity in the
workplace.
Once appropriate research has
been done, determine which
factors influence professionalism
in the specific workplace.
This determination should
consider both the importance
of the behaviors and skills and
the urgency of each factor.
Importance does not change.
Professionalism standards
are based on foundationally
important behaviors. Urgency,
however, is based on the
needs of the workplace. It is
also important to analyze why
it is necessary to establish
professionalism standards
currently.
PROFESSIONAL BEHAVIORS
TO BE ENCOURAGED
Once buy-in for establishing
the professionalism standards
is obtained, the second
phase of establishing a
workplace-specific culture of
professionalism is determining
the professional behaviors to
be encouraged in the specific
workplace (Table 4). This
starts with collecting input
and providing examples.
Staff should also request
suggestions. They may conduct
a survey to select behaviors,
ethical standards, and skills/
knowledge to be encouraged,
or they may conduct
focus groups. Finally, staff
SOCRA SOURCE © May 2023
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