Being a health professional in Australia - Nursing

“At the heart of being a good health care practitioner, lies professionalism, setting the standard of what a patient should expect “(Dhai p 174). This statement quoted from Professor A. Dhai’s “Understanding Professionalism in Health Care in the Twenty First Century” details a perspective on the role of a modern day health professional. In her article, Dhai stresses the notion of an ideal health professional being both technically skilled and ethically adept. Using the quote as a baseline of the opinion, this essay will explore the various components of the general interpretations of a modern day health professional, and will further specify its focus on the discipline of Nursing. The foundation of this notion being that in order to meet a general standard of professionalism, legitimate health professionals including nurses, is to be competent both in skill and ethics. Although the word ‘professional’ has been present in western culture for a long time, the term had varied and evolved throughout times. Selden (1968) quoted in his article of William Combe’s writing during the previous century "The learned professions, all agree,/Are physic, law and divinity." Which regard three professions of “medicine, law and theology” as the most fundamental professions, indicating the extensive nature of the term. During the early twentieth century, the term ‘professional’ was regarded as a working individual who was paid for their labour, as opposed to an ‘amateur’ who worked without pay. The term was exercised further for workers who were self regulating and subsequently, ‘professionals’ evolved to reference highly skilled and specialised workers. During the latter half of the twentieth century, the term was commonly applied to workers who were adept at their chosen occupation (Dhai p 174). Despite the changes of language with the definition, one common distinct characteristic is the expectation of a level of competency. The importance of competency as well as