PHT402: ETHICS 3RD YEAR ASSIGNMENT – FINAL (8 NOVEMBER 2018)
Janine van Niekerk – 3635180
Since I can remember, from a very young age, sunrise has always been my favorite part of the day. Not only is it the most beautiful picture nature presents to us, but it also represents new beginnings and new found energy. I especially love sunrises over landscapes, such as mountains and the ocean. During April this year – for the 5th consecutive year, I had the opportunity to volunteer at the annual IRONMAN race, which takes place in Port Elizabeth, my hometown. As always during this day, I was privileged enough to see another beautiful sunrise over the ocean in this friendly city. Naturally I walked over to the pier to take a photo, but this year I did not walk to the edge of the pier, but rather stopped halfway to take this photo. This photo got me thinking – it symbolized something greater. It symbolized the characteristics of a health care professional. I had often thought of how a sunrise linked to me as a person, symbolizing that I should take each day on with new strength and see the beauty in everyday things, but in this moment I realized that this sunrise and all the detail surrounding it, represented me as a clinical professional.
Just as the sunrise takes it’s time to break dawn, professionals are patient and take their time with patients. I often work with patients where language barriers exist and treatment does not go according to the pace I would like it to, but during this time I have the opportunity to be patient and show understanding towards the patient. Initially during my first clinical practice experiences patience did not come easily, but over time I developed more empathy and understanding towards my patients, which led to patience coming naturally when working with patients. I especially take time with patients who have language barriers as I have learned and now understand that these barriers are just as frustrating to them, if not more. Another thing I noted in this picture and in the setting itself, was that a sunrise may not always look the same every day, but it is important to note that it still occurs every single day. Just like the sunrise, health professionals should be consistent when working with patients looking at treatment, time and behavior. I have gotten better at this during my learning and clinical practice experience. I had to take a hard look at myself and stop myself from spending a lot of time with patients who have conditions that interest me and not so much with patients who do not. This is unethical and I now try to look at patients in an equal manner, whether they have a big or small, interesting or uninteresting conditions – nevertheless that patient is my priority and deserves the best treatment and time I am able to offer him/her. In an ideal situation/clinical practice setting each patient should receive the same amount of time, care and attention, but as I have seen throughout clinical practice – this is not always the case. I am still struggling with this aspect in clinical practice, but I have identified it as a weakness and I am working on overcoming this challenge in clinical practice next year.
The rays of the sun reach out lightly one by one, inviting you in and each making their appearance, the same as health professionals should be approachable and confident in clinical practice. In clinical practice I have learnt that a smile is often all you need to make the biggest change in your patient’s attitude or day and being confident also restores the patient’s confidence in you as a health professional. It has been shown that communication with patients, are facilitated if the health professional is approachable (Fathers & Stevens, 2008). Communication is a very important aspect of clinical practice and according to a study done by Paans et al. (2013), being communicative is one of the characteristics which is associated with an excellent allied health professional (which includes Physiotherapists).
In this photo I also took note of the rocks lying in the shallow waters. For a lot of sea creatures and other forms of life, these rocks are seen as a safe haven. We as health care professionals should be reliable and patients should be able to trust us fully. Things such as techniques regarding patient safety as well as patient confidentiality are all grouped under the heading trust. A patient should be able to trust his/her therapist physically as well as emotionally. We need to respect patients in this regard and adhere to the ethical rules of clinical practice. The pier, a famous landmark of this city, has been there for as long as I can remember and while growing up in PE, this has always been one of my favorite places to go. There is something very reliable and unchanging about this structure, these pillars are stable and have not changed in all these years. As health professionals we should also have this same reliability and professionalism in clinical practice. An unchanging honesty and constant reliability that will outlive us and professionalism which we will be known for many years in practice. According to O’donnell (2015), professionalism is one of the 8 most vital and important traits that a health professional should have.
Lastly one of the most important components of this photo I took, was the flags situated along the sides of the pier. All these flags representing different countries and diversity, are aligned behind one another facing towards the rising sun. These flags represent our patients waiting for us, the patients we see daily in clinical practice – these flags each so unique in character, deserve each of these characteristics from us as health professionals.
References:
Fathers, C.P & Stevens, S. (2008). Improving the patient’s experience. Community Eye Health Journal, 21(68), 55-57.
O’donnell, M. (2015). Health Careers. Retrieved 12 September, 2018, from https://www.healthecareers.com/article/career/8-vital-traits-every-allied-health-professional-should-have
Paans et al.. (2013). What constitutes an excellent allied health care professional? A multidisciplinary focus group study. Journal of Multidisciplinary Healthcare, 6, 347–356.