Professionalism in healthcare tends to be a complex and ever-changing concept. It can be considered on a broad spectrum in terms of healthcare in general, or narrow with regards to specialist knowledge and skills, professional conduct and includes a strong focus on professional autonomy, reflective practice, communication and professional relationships. The accreditation council of Graduate Medical education as define professionals as, “demonstrating a commitment to carrying out professional responsibilities and adherence to ethical principles”.
I found myself in a challenging position. I had two patients who were involved in an altercation. This resulted in one sustaining injuries that rendered him a paraplegic, while the other sustained a minor leg injury, which, after rehabilitation or treatment will return him to normal function as prior to incident. These patients belong to rival gangs and upon my first encounter with these patient being in the same space, Patient B (minor injury) began taunting and provoking Patient A (paraplegic). This took me by surprise as, I have never experienced such an incident. It tested my ability to maintain professionalism as I found myself lending bias to Patient A. This patient sustained permanent injuries and is being taunted and provoked, while Patient B, the perpetrator, will recover. One could say that human nature and compassion surfaced and made treating Patient B very challenging.
In order to overcome this, I really had to remind myself about maintaining a professional mental attitude and maintaining professional conduct. It was, in fact, this principle of professionalism that allowed me to be neutral and continue treating both patients to the best of my ability. Upon conducting research on this matter, I came across a survey wherein physiotherapist student were interviewed about their understanding of, “Professionalism”. It was found that many of these students attributed characteristics of remaining calm in a difficult situation or knowing your boundaries and limitations to being professional. Also their ideas of professionalism was largely shaped by their experience i.e. observing behaviour they deemed professional and observing behaviour they deemed unprofessional.
In conclusion, while the situation I found myself was new and challenging, the notion of professionalism is, in fact, what helped me through it. Maintaining professionalism in difficult situation will be a reoccurring challenge in my career, but I will continue to remind myself of the importance thereof as it is a part of my job. My research also reiterated the fact that remaining calm in such situations is a characteristic I have to always possess and that my behaviour or attitude should always be exemplary as it is what is expected of me in my profession.

Reference List
• Grace, S & Trede, F. (2013) Developing professionalism in physiotherapy and dietetics students in professional entry courses, Studies in Higher Education, 38:6, 793-806, DOI: 10.1080/03075079.2011.603410
• Trede, F. (2018). International Journal of Work-Integrated Learning. [online] Ijwil.org. Available at: https://www.ijwil.org/files/APJCE_13_3_159_167.pdf · [Accessed 12 Oct. 2018].