Professional Behavior in Nursing

Dr. Kowalski is President and CEO, The Colorado Center for Nursing Excellence, Denver, Colorado.

The author has disclosed no potential conflicts of interest, financial or otherwise.

As nurse educators and professional development nurses, have staff nurses ever asked you questions about professionalism? What does it mean to be a professional? It is unclear whether new staff nurses know or understand what it means to be professional, and they look to nurses they respect as examples of professional behavior.

One definition of professionalism is "the skill, good judgment, and polite behavior that is expected from a person who is trained to do a job well; the conduct, aims, or qualities that characterize or mark a profession or a professional person" ( "Professionalism," n.d. ). Of course, it is important that nurses dress appropriately for the workplace, which often is a form of business attire, but professional behavior is not only about how individuals dress. Behavioral aspects, skills, good judgment, and the polite behavior of professionalism are critical to how nurses are perceived.

As one resource, the American Organization of Nurse Executives' Nurse Executive Competencies (2015) has an entire section devoted to professionalism. The discussion of professionalism in this article begins with personal and professional accountability.

Personal and Professional Accountability

In large part, accountability is focused on how each nurse contributes to the creation of a work environment that facilitates the team in its ability to achieve results for patients and families. In other words, each nurse contributes to the quality of care that is delivered. They support each other and function as a smoothly running team. If there is conflict or upset, it is handled constructively and privately, without gossip or escalation. Crucial conversations are used and modeled by staff. Peers support each other in this goal. Each team member follows the team agreements that have been established and are respectful of one another....