Embrace Professionalism in Your Practice

Strained staffing, ongoing public health concerns and economic worries are creating a stressed professional environment where nurses face incivility and a general strain on professionalism. These negative influences can be even more difficult to navigate for new OR nurses acclimating to the general tenets of what it means to be a professional, especially in the unique multi-specialty collaborative space that is perioperative care.

Because professionalism is a huge topic to tackle, Periop Today asked AORN Vice President of Nursing Renae Battié, MN, RN, CNOR, where nurses in any role should target education to teach (and remember) professionalism strategies that are useful in today’s stressed climate.

“Professionalism at a high-level is about owning our practice as a nurse. We have a license to practice, and we need to think about what that license really represents,” Battié explained.

She shared four high-level elements of periop nursing professionalism, along with a few easy-to-digest professionalism resources AORN members have access to.

1. Accountability

Professional accountability means being responsible and answerable to self, patients, peers, the nursing profession, and the public within the scope of your nursing license.

“It’s not just knowing how to prep the patient, it’s also understanding all that encompasses your perioperative nursing role, such as how to collaborate with colleagues while understanding the scope of your practice and what to delegate,” Battié noted.

She said accountability to your role also means “actively participating in your professional association that advocates for protecting your hard-earned professional license.”

Resources:

• Periop 101 module on Professionalism
• Perioperative Nursing: Scope and Standards of Practice (see Introduction)

2. Civility

As part of professional practice, nurses must not only seek to improve their own practices, but also support and encourage their peers in the same process, Battié stressed.

“Professional nurses demonstrate civil behavior and call out uncivil behavior to protect their professional environment in order to practice at the higher level a nursing license involves—think of calling out incivility as a duty to act.”

This action to protect professional civility must include the ability to:

• recognize incivility,
• be responsible for personal actions, and
• speak up to get support in addressing uncivil behavior.

Resources:

• Periop 101 module on professionalism
• AANA/AORN/ASPAN Position Statement on Workplace Civility (under Patient & Workplace Safety)
• Perioperative Nursing: Scope and Standards of Practice (see Standards 7–13)
• AORN Guidelines for Perioperative Practice. Guideline for Team Communication.

3. Ethics

Practicing ethically is foundational to supporting a professional, healthy work environment, Battié noted.

Because ethics spans everything from advocacy and social justice for the patient, to self-care and reporting unsafe practices, she encouraged all perioperative nurses to revisit the many aspects of ethics that exemplify professional nursing care, especially communication.

“We know communication breakdowns in the perioperative setting are a factor in events that adversely affect patients. Creating an environment that welcomes and expects collegial collaboration is the responsibility of every nurse, including leaders.”

Resources:

• Periop 101 module on Professionalism
• Perioperative Nursing: Scope and Standards of Practice (See Standards 7 and 10)

4. Practice Knowledge

Professional nurses need to engage in ongoing professional development throughout their careers with ongoing learning activities as part of their commitment to their license to practice, Battié shared.

“One of the most crucial areas discussed in our Standards of Practice is that perioperative nurses evaluate their practice in context with professional standards and that they maintain current knowledge in nursing practice and keep a commitment to lifelong learning to continually practice at the highest level possible.”

Keeping up with practice knowledge includes being familiar with the latest evidence-based practices, as well as advancing practice through certification, she added.

Resources:

• Periop 101 module on Professionalism
• Perioperative Nursing: Scope and Standards of Practice (See Standard 16 and 17)