We might not be professional football players, but we ARE professional pharmacists. We are performing at our highest level EVERY day, and usually without entertaining halftime performances and amusing commercial breaks. (While I have yet to take a commercial break at work, I would take an immediate break if Lady Gaga or Beyonce walked into my office...feel free to send either of them my way!)
What are the characteristics of a professional pharmacist? ASHP’s Statement on Professionalism highlights the following 10 characteristics of a professional:
- Knowledge and skills of the profession
- Commitment to self-improvement of skills and knowledge
- Service orientation
- Pride in and service to the profession
- Covenantal relationship with the patient
- Creativity and innovation
- Conscience and trustworthiness
- Accountability for his or her work
- Ethically sound decision-making
- Leadership
Does Peyton Manning exhibit all of these characteristics? More importantly, do YOU?
The New Practitioners Forum (NPF) Career Development Advisory Group (CDAG) has been charged with assessing ASHP’s current professionalism resources along with recommending and creating additional resources. Trust me, the CDAG is in overtime and working hard on this charge! However, there are two topics where the pharmacy literature is sparse and these are: creativity/innovation and conscience/trustworthiness. This was actually quite surprising to me! Of course we possess these characteristics, but apparently have not yet taken the time to publish on the topics. So if you have a great article or resource to share on professionalism, especially on creativity/innovation or conscience/trustworthiness, please share! And if you do not have a resource on the topic, now is a good time to share your thoughts. Go Team! :)
#Professionalism #NewPractitioners