Professionalism in nursing, midwifery and the allied health professions: report

Annex 1

Workstream terms of reference

The aim of this workstream is to facilitate the development of the necessary requirements to make professionalism a delivery reality within the context of the Healthcare Quality Strategy.

The objectives of this workstream are to:

• develop a pragmatic expression of key features of professionalism, building on existing literature, such as Stern's principles, as a model to assist understanding and communication
• inform and oversee the development of methodologies that will assist with the assessment (self or otherwise) of professionalism within the NMAHP professions in NHSScotland with the aim of confirming and revitalising the concept
• consider the relevance of its findings to the wider healthcare workforce in NHSScotland
• make recommendations to (and if appropriate compile a report for) the NMAHP Coordinating Council.

Specific foci of the group's work will be on the following.

1. The individual health care 'worker', not the profession as a group. The individual might not be a member of a 'profession'; our aim is to support professional values, attitudes and behaviours in the individual, irrespective of whether the individual belongs to a recognised healthcare profession or works in a healthcare support role.
2. The context of relationships - practitioner:patient; practitioner:team members; practitioner:wider organisation/context, including with families/carers/visitors, NHS volunteers and other partners in third sector or local authority.
3. The impact of culture on the system and on the individual's outward manifestation of professionalism.
4. The concept of 'caring for' and 'caring about' and the duty of care to oneself as a professional as well as to others.
5. The place of role models, mentoring and 'self learning' in developing professionalism.
6. The patient's perspective and the importance of person-centredness as an aspect of professionalism. There needs to be a major emphasis here on respect and dignity which are vitally important to patients.
7. The role of insightful refection and structured constructive feedback and its impact on practice.
8. Whether there are validated measures that could be used as a proxy for 'professionalism'.
9. Articulating all work with existing (or developing) governance frameworks and taking the opportunity to influence any revisions of national policy, eg PIN (Partnership Information Network) policies.
10. Considering UK, and other related, evidence-based work that focuses on the concept and measurement of professionalism relevant to the UK/Scottish context.
11. Reinforcing Revitalisation and Actualisation as keywords in any communications.

Working group membership