IPP
Miss M. KAPAPA
Objectives of this lecture
• At the end of this lecture, students must be able to
• Define a profession and who a professional is
• Define professionalism
• Describe the characteristics of a professional
Introduction
• The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) “profession” as “[a]n occupation in which a professed
knowledge of some subject, field, or science is applied
• a vocation or career, especially one that involves prolonged training and a formal qualification.”
defines
• The Merriam-Webster Dictionary (2014) says a profession is ‘a calling or a vocation requiring
specialized knowledge and often long and intensive academic preparation’.
• A profession is a of occupation with three characteristic features: ‘specialized training in a field of
codified knowledge usually acquired by formal education and apprenticeship, public recognition
of a certain autonomy on the part of the community of practitioners to regulate their own
standards of practice, and a commitment to provide service to the public that goes beyond the
economic welfare of the practitioner’ (Sullivan,2005)
• A professional is a member of a vocation founded upon specialized educational training.
• A professional describes the standards of education and training that prepare members
of the profession with the particular knowledge and skills necessary to perform the role
of that profession.
• A professional is a member of the professions and they are usually governed by
ethics and commitment to competence.
• Being a professional includes maximizing a patient’s satisfaction and always keeping
your word, never promising something that is beyond your skills set as well as an
obligation to share knowledge.
• Professions are associated with an expertise based upon a body of knowledge and a set of
skills refined through experience and a deeper form of common sense.
• Members of a profession can be expected to exhibit characteristics of ‘honesty, reliability,
beneficence, a sense of personal responsibility. integrity and independence’.
• Professions are ‘associated with a “calling” … [and have] an accountability to conscience
that goes beyond strict legal liability and the duty of care defined by one’s job description’.
• embers of a profession should exhibit genuine compassion, imagination in finding ways to
care for people based in a genuine desire to help and be willing to carry the burden of
taking personal responsibility
Professionalism
• Professionalism is not the job or the task the professional do, but it is the way of doing the
job or the task. Weckert, J. (2015).
• Professionalism is the way in which we do a job or tasks and often it is related to life or
death situations and decisions regarding those situations.
• Professionalism demands placing the interests of patients above those of the
physiotherapist, setting and maintaining the standards of competence and integrity, and
providing expert advice to society on matters of health.
• professionalism arises as an articulated body made up of professional traits and skills that
constitute physiotherapists’ professional work, regardless of the geographical, social, or
cultural settings where it is carried out.
Characteristics of a Profession
Expert knowledge
• Each of these professions requires a great deal of expert knowledge
and expertise.
• As the section on specialized education illustrated, each of these
professions requires a great deal of training which does not happen
overnight.
• It requires many hours or years of study and preparation.
Use of Independent Judgment
• Professionals use their best independent judgment to accomplish appropriate
results that best fit the interests of their clients.
• Professionals do not allow their independent judgment to be impaired by outside
influences.
Trust
• Professionals are trusted to help their clients or patients with things that are
sensitive and profoundly important.
• Without trust, our clients won’t tell us what we need to know so that we may use
our best independent judgment on their behalf.
• Without trust, our patients or clients won’t follow our advice take their medicine or
follow exercises given to them
Participates in ongoing training and development.
• A professional firmly believes in staying current in their field.
• A professional is committed to continued training and development. EBP is important for a
professional.
• A professional practices according to the available evidence
Accepts responsibility
• Professionals seek and accept responsibility.
• They can be trusted and given high levels of responsibility within the organization.
• A professional is handed tasks at such a high level, that poor performance can reflect poorly on
the entire organization or profession not just the individual
Have a sense of ownership of their work.
• professionals feel a sense of ownership and pride in everything they do.
• Professionals work, not to just meet organization standards, but most importantly meet the standards of
their own pride in their work.
Professionals work for the organization as if they were working in their own business.
• Maintain a collective networking spirit outside of the organization.
• Professionals understand that their work is not limited to their organization.
• They understand the importance of professional relationships outside of work with others in the same field.
• Professionals net work (share notes and experiences)
• professional network and discussions are based on their expertise with a full guidance of code of conduct to
guide and teach the others into the correct professional behaviors.
Maintain high standards of ethics and integrity.
• Professionals are driven by a code of ethics.
• They have a strong sense of right and wrong.
• Their integrity ensures that they adhere strongly to a set of values about how they
do their work.
• They say what they do and do what they say.
Maintain high standards of performance.
• Professionals have high levels of expectations both of themselves and others.
• They are determined to always do the right thing and do it well.
• Doing a job well is very important to a professional.
• A true professional is unsatisfied with poor performance.
• While money may be important, it is not the driving force behind the professional’s desire
to put forth exemplary work.
Maintain high standards of performance.
• Professionals have high levels of expectations both of themselves and others.
• They are determined to always do the right thing and do it well.
• Doing a job well is very important to a professional.
• A true professional is unsatisfied with poor performance.
• While money may be important, it is not the driving force behind the professional’s desire
to put forth exemplary work.
