Doctors are the individuals that have always been in great demand. However, they have never been needed as much as they are needed now and that is primarily because more and more people are getting educated and acknowledging the idea of therapy. Given, the fact that medical professionals are needed by such a great degree and in such a large quantity, it is incumbent for them to follow certain behaviour patterns.
Since the world is changing at a blinding pace, there are new ideas are emerging. As a result, it is getting harder and harder for patients and doctors to identify the fine lines between appropriate and non-appropriate behaviour. Naturally, people, especially in the fields of therapy, are having a hard time understanding what does having a professional attitude even means. Since probity training ensures that doctors are not crossing the appropriate boundaries, every doctor and medical professional should be mandated to take it.
Professional boundaries are all about developing and maintaining a safe distance between you and your patient. This means that you not only have to keep a physical distance, but you also need to keep your appearance, etiquette, and demeanour in check.
The term professionalism holds different meanings to different people, therefore in this blog, we highlight the standard professionalism that is universally expected of you as a doctor.
Autonomy, privileged, exclusive, elitist, are only some of the words that are commonly viewed as problematic in professional spheres. It happens when some people who have an upper hand over you start to use their professionalism to conceal their protectionism. These are the people who are usually seen losing their temper on trivial matters and being overly offended by slight criticism. They dislike any sort of interference and therefore, they are usually the people, everyone would tries be cautious around. Primarily their behaviour stems out of their sense of inferiority and that’s why they are constantly threatened by everyone around them.
True professionalism is very important for trust and trust is the cornerstone of any professional relationship. Although for more than a decade our society has been exercising implosion of trust, times have changed now and what was considered effective then is hardly useful today.
People have seen that whenever trust begins to decline, resistance starts to surface and antagonism flourishes. Similarly, when doctors feel threatened, there an associated negative behavioural pattern that follows. Some physicians would look back and wish old times to return when nobody could question a doctor’s advice. They need to understand, that times have considerably changed and so the notion of true professionalism.
Other than autocracy and the idea of authority, emotional and mental closeness is also considered unprofessional.
Like every other human, doctors can also be biased about some patients and so they can prefer one patient over the other. However, this can lead them to cross professional boundaries. No matter how smart and cautious a doctor you believe you are, you should take a Professional boundaries course and educate yourself regarding the lines that cannot be crossed at any cost.
Here are some of the precautions that you must take to protect yourself from crossing any lines:
Make sure you are transparent about your feelings with your patients and if you find yourself having a soft spot for them, try to be extra cautious around them. That is because no matter how comfortable you are with them, you are not allowed to be complacent.
If you are not educated enough about boundaries or just find them difficult to stay confined to, try to keep your conversation light and short with the patients you have become close to and make sure you are not unnecessarily touching them.
We hope after reading this blog, you would have understood the significance of true professionalism and learnt how to prevent your sentiments come in the way of your professional sensibilities.
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