Professionalism in Nursing

Registered Nurses are one of the key attributes to todays health care
industry. They are the ones who provide around the clock bedside care,
administer your medication, provide psychiatric mental comforts, and are
probably the people you see the most during a hospital stay. This is why
professionalism and the way Registered Nurses present themselves are so
crucial to the well being of patients. A Registered Nurse lacking
responsibility, competence, and credibility in knowledge is likely to not
contribute much to the recovery stage of a patient. This is why Registered
Nurses go through gruesome educational training, and are held high
expectations from other health care team members, physicians, caregivers,
and most importantly, the patient. Hence, professionalism in nursing
encompasses many elements. Throughout this paper, three different
elements will be discussed: 1) knowledge, 2) competence, and 3)
accountability.
In any healthcare setting, trust is extremely important in building
rapport. Credibility is having the quality of being trusted and believed in.
Having an abundance of knowledge builds your credibility. With credibility, a
Registered Nurse could do their tasks successfully and efficiently, which
makes them competent. Competency is an expected level of performance
that integrates knowledge, skills, abilities, and judgment (American Nurses
Association, 2010, p. 9). Naturally, having credibility and competence would
make a Registered Nurse a responsible person, which means they are

accountable. These are the three main characteristics that would make a
Registered Nurse a professional. Overall, professional nurses maintain
accountability for their work, develop good clinical judgment, strengthen
leadership competence, establish high ethical standards, refine therapeutic
communication, and educate the public about health issues (Giddens, 2013,
p. 359).
Even from a historical point of view, the founder of modern nursing,
Florence Nightingale, stressed the importance of accountability,
consistency, and truthfulness in practiceNurses were to consider
themselves role models, maintaining dignity and presence in their
interactions with patients, families, and one another and being personally
responsible for their moral conduct (LaSala, 2009). Even as a KCC Nursing
Student, s/he has a list of expectations and philosophies that the students
must follow. As such, one of the goals that were stated in the KCC Mission
Statement of the Department of Nursing, states that, the goal of nursing
education at Kapiolani Community College is to develop competent, caring
nurses who demonstrate clinical judgment and critical thinking in the
delivery of safe, quality care for residents and visitors of our island
community (University of Hawaii Kapiolani Community College, 2013).
Furthermore, in LaSalas article, Nurses must follow accepted professional
practice standards and are accountable to develop and maintain current
knowledge, skills, and abilities through formal and continuing education (as
cited in American Nurses Association, 2003). From these examples, the

importance of professionalism in nursing dates back to the 1800s when the

founder of nursing became prominent, to the present day in modern nursing.
Professionalism in nursing will always be an integral role in what makes a
good nurse a professional.
Throughout the nursing career, each Registered Nurse should be
responsible for their own actions. This can be accomplished by first knowing
their Scope of Practice. Individual nurses are responsible for assessing their
own competence. When the needs of the patient are beyond the
qualifications and competencies of the nurse, consultation and collaboration
must be sought from qualified nurses, other health professionals, or other
appropriate sources (American Nurses Association, 2014). For example, if
the physician tells the Registered Nurse to insert a colonoscopy, the
Registered Nurse should know that this is beyond his/her qualifications and
competencies of a Registered Nurse. Furthermore, Nightingale, also
described knowing what is right and wrong as inward values and
advocated for integrating ethical decision making and personal
accountability for ones own moral behavior into professional practice
(LaSala, 2009).
Along with having knowledge of their Scope of Practice, Registered
Nurses must know their Standards of Practice too. According to Chapter 457,
Section 457-7.5, Delegation, the delegating nurse is responsible for
individually assessing the patient and the situational circumstances and for
ascertaining the competence of the delegatee before delegating any task,

function, or activitythe delegatee shall assume liability for accepting the

delegation and for the delegatees own actions in carrying out the delegated
task, function, or activity (N.a., 2013). In order to know what your scope of
practice is, a Registered Nurse must be knowledgeable to what s/he is
confined to do. These are examples of the importance of having the
elements of knowledge, competence, and accountability in order to be a
professional nurse.
As a KCC nursing student, we are molded to think and act like
professionals. From day one to graduation, there are expectations for a
student nurse. As a student nurse, we are committing ourselves to this
career knowing that these are the must-have characteristics that make a
professional nurse. Along with being caring, an advocate, a good
communicator, and having good clinical judgment, having knowledge,
credibility, and accountability are important elements in order to become a
professional Registered Nurse. My personal plan is to practice the three
main elements discussed in this paper continuously, whether it be in school
or the hospital. After all, patients are at your mercy to take care of their
needs. Without having knowledge, competence, and accountability, a
Registered Nurse would be useless and invaluable to the medical field.

References
American Nurses Association. Nursings social policy statement. 2nd edition.
Washington, DC: American Nurses Publishing; 2003. p. 6, 11.
American Nurses Association. (2014). Nursing World. Retrieved 2014 11February
from Nursingworld.org:
http://nursingworld.org/MainMenuCategories/ThePracticeofProfessional
Nursing/EthicsStandards/CodeofEthics.aspx
American Nurses Association. (2010 August). Nursing: Scope and
Standards of Practice,
2nd Edition. Retrieved 2014 11-February from
http://www.Nursingworld.org: file:///Users/Sylvia/Desktop/ADN
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Giddens, J. F. (2013). Concepts for Nursing Practice. St. Louis, Missouri:
Mosby Elsevier.
LaSala, C. A. (2009). Moral Accountability and Integrity in Nursing Practice.
Retrieved
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