Professionalism and professional ethics
Issues of professionalism and professional ethics in health and social care are now receiving a higher profile than ever before, both in the UK and internationally. The resources committed to, and the power commanded in society by, health and social care professionals makes them rightly the subject of intense scrutiny by government bodies, independent monitoring organisations, professional regulators, the courts, the media and the general public.
There have been dramatic changes in the ways in which health and social care professionals work professionals work - in interprofessional teams; with roles that are constantly shifting and evolving; with new occupational groups; and with new skills, techniques and procedures. Given that within this interprofessional working environment each discrete profession has its own values and traditions, these new ways of working present significant challenges.
In addition, the impact of globalisation, international travel and patterns of population and worker migration means that students, professionals and service users increasingly come from diverse ethnic and cultural backgrounds. This can have profound implications for education, training and practice. Service users come with cultural expectations as to how they should be cared for. Professionals practising in their native culture or in other cultures also bring prior expectations and understandings.
There is a pressing need to explore the extent to which different professionals have a shared understanding of professionalism, ethical values and standards, in what ways they differ and what potential there is for synergy or conflict. The challenges of interprofessional working are not confined to major issues of malpractice or professional misconduct. The quality of care may be significantly affected by the quality of interprofessional working and what might be called the moral climate within a team or clinical area. The ability and willingness of practitioners to work effectively together and to accept shared responsibility for practice depends in part on the understanding of individual and shared values and the willingness to set standards and to challenge unacceptable practice. This may involve behaviours that, taken individually, may seem trivial but that collectively set the tone and determine the moral climate.
Professor Paul Wainwright (1948-2010)
Our work in this area was, until recently, led by the late Professor Paul Wainwright. Following his sad loss in June 2010, Paul was described by the Nursing Times as a "leading light on ethical research".
Professor Fiona Ross, Dean of the Faculty of Health and Social Care Sciences, added, "Paul used his skills of analysis and argument, not to intimidate or to impress, but to engage in stretching the boundaries of understanding about the meaning and value of nursing. He was particularly interested in changing how we think about nursing practice and at the time of his death was engaged through research in a number of clinical settings".
