Healthcare professionals engage with a wide range of people. Thus, maintaining professional etiquette is important. Etiquettes are more than just good manners for a healthcare professional. They also involve building trustworthy relationships with clients, co-workers, and superiors. These abilities are essential for portraying oneself as polished, self-assured, responsible, and professional and help one stand out as well as progress in their field.
The ABCs of Etiquette: Appearance, Behaviour, Communication
According to some studies, most clients or co-workers complain about a healthcare professional because of their unprofessional attitude or behaviour. Professional etiquettes are necessary for career progress, yet most healthcare employees lack a basic understanding of them. It is important to remember that manners are required to instil confidence in patients and foster a pleasant mindset among co-workers.
Introduce Yourself Properly To Patients
Making a personal introduction and sharing information about yourself might help patients feel more comfortable with their healthcare professional. Try to make eye contact, smile, and, most importantly, greet them with an enthusiastic voice. This might encourage patients and others to confide in you about their needs.
Maintain A Proper Dress Code
A proper dress code is important for every healthcare professional. If you want to leave a good impression and draw positive attention, your outfit should be neatly ironed, well-fitting, and radiate confidence. For a good personality, maintain personal hygiene, use moderate deodorant, and wear clean shoes. Additionally, always wear name badges above the shirt pockets for better visibility. In a nutshell, refrain from wearing unprofessional attire, such as tight-fitting clothing, capris, low-cut blouses or dresses, T-shirts, etc.
In addition to these physical aspects, a good healthcare worker should behave under certain ethical standards, such as:
Justice
When distributing care, medical personnel must act fairly. All people, regardless of their sex, gender, colour, caste, creed, or religion, must receive fair treatment and equal healthcare services.
Beneficence
The word denotes generosity or friendliness. As a healthcare provider, you must endeavour to provide your patients with the best care.
Accountability
The term refers to taking ownership of one’s own conduct. In short, all potential professional and personal repercussions of your conduct are your responsibility.
Fidelity
It entails being trustworthy and dependable. Healthcare professionals must deliver high-quality care safely and competently to uphold their professional obligations.
Autonomy And Patient Self-Determination
As a healthcare provider, you should recognise that each client has the inherent right to hold their own thoughts, perspectives, values, and beliefs. The patient has the right to advise the healthcare professional regarding adherence to the recommended therapy or rehabilitation procedure. Any given treatment may be accepted or rejected by the patient.
Veracity
It entails being honest with patients. Therefore, even though it could cause patient distress, you shouldn’t withhold patient information.
Apart from the above-mentioned ethical standards, other healthcare etiquettes include:
- Refusing life-sustaining treatment.
- Not taking resuscitative orders from the patient’s family.
- Preserving patient privacy.
- Insufficient resources and staffing.
- End-of-life issues.
- Healthcare professionals can seek professional assistance in such cases to address these problems.
Final Thoughts
Ethics often known as moral philosophy, is a set of moral rules that helps people differentiate between right, wrong, good, and bad. It is the branch of philosophy focusing on the methodical study of moral principles, objectives, and guiding factors. These ideas guide people’s behaviour and decision-making. Ethics refers to the principles of what is right for people and their social and communal environments.
Healthcare professionals require professional manners and ethics to build strong human relationships. These manners can be identified as a way for medical professional interacts with patients in various settings.
At CUTM, we work to inculcate these values in all of our learners so that they grow in their ability to lead, make better decisions, and have a beneficial influence on society. Our goal is to prepare our students to handle all types of patients with professionalism and respect by making soft skills a required subject in addition to technical education for all healthcare-related courses.
