Maintenance Of Professional Standards Research Articles

Navigating challenges in telechaplaincy: A thematic analysis of an international conference

Telehealth-based care models are being widely adopted by primary care providers and large healthcare institutions. Drawing on data collected at an international conference on the theory and practice of telechaplaincy, this article identifies and discusses how chaplains navigate various telechaplaincy-related challenges. A thematic analysis identified 49 codes and 11 themes at the individual-, organizational- and population levels. Presenters reported facing novel and qualitatively distinct challenges spanning an array of telechaplains’ professional activities, including the structure of work routines, the types of interventions used, the ways provider-patient connections are established and experienced, the strategic positioning of chaplains, their role in the model of care, and ultimately, the populations served. It is argued that, though telechaplaincy has gained prominence since the Covid-19 pandemic, the maintenance of professional standards in digital care settings is a systemic challenge related to long-term trends towards outpatient care.

Developing a Model of Care for a 4- to 6-Bedded Postanesthetic Recovery Unit: A Delphi Study

PurposeRecovery units are typically open-plan rooms where all patients can be seen at all times; however, a new hospital has been built with 4- to 6-bed perioperative bays. The purpose of the study was to establish expert consensus regarding problems, benefits, and suggested solutions for the new design across four domains: patient safety, staff satisfaction, organizational efficiency, and maintenance of professional standards. DesignWe conducted a Delphi study to inform the development of a model of care for this new design. MethodsA two-round Delphi study involved 71 recovery unit nurses from 13 countries. Problems, solutions, and any potential benefits of the new design were collected in round 1 and ranked in round 2. FindingsThe highest ranked problems were mixing conscious and unconscious patients and need for safe skilled staffing levels. The highest ranked solutions were division of patients, increased safe skilled staffing, and staff education. ConclusionsParticipants identified clear risks and mitigation strategies. Implementing these strategies should allow for a safer environment for both patients and staff. A model of care to ensure safety and quality in 4- to 6-bedded bay postanesthetic recovery units should address mixing of patients, staffing levels and staff education.

A manager’s challenge: Is external supervision more valuable than increased training money for staff?

INTRODUCTION: Supervision is regarded as an integral necessity for the development and maintenance of professional standards in social workers and is also common practice in other health professions. There is debate, however, about the relative strengths of external and internal supervision. External supervision is recommended but there is a significant financial cost in contracting external supervisors. Also, some argue that internal supervision better manages staff and simplifies communication.METHODS: This article provides a case study of an agency considering changing its supervision systems and the relative benefits and risks that need to be considered.FINDINGS: Each agency needs to consider how to get the best from staff development resources considering the time or finances available. External supervision can offer wider choice to staff with more ethical issues debated. However, this may limit other staff development funding.CONCLUSION: It is recommended that every agency regularly review how to get the best supervision for its staff.

A Brief History of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh

The Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh has enjoyed a continuous existence as a corporate body since 1505. It may justly claim to be one of the oldest surgical corporations in the world. The Barber Surgeons of Edinburgh were formally incorporated as a Craft Guild of the city and this recognition is embodied in the Seal of Cause or Charter of Privileges which was granted to the Barber Surgeons by the Town Council of Edinburgh on 1st July 1505. The Seal of Cause is a remarkable document. It clearly established the role of the Incorporation of Barber Surgeons as a body concerned with the maintenance and promotion of the highest standards of surgical practice and this remains the prime purpose of the great international surgical brotherhood of the Royal College which has developed from the Incorporation. The Seal of Cause conferred various privileges upon the Incorporation, including the exclusive right of its members to practise surgery in Edinburgh and surrounding districts, but in return for these privileges, it imposed certain crucially important duties and obligations. The most important of these, which remains entirely appropriate to this day, is stated very clearly in the Seal of Cause, “that na maner of persoun occupie nor vse ony poyntis of our said craftis of Surregenie ... bott gif he be first frieman and burges of the samyn, and that he be worthy and expert in all the poyntis belangand the saidis craftis diligentlie and avysitly examinit and admittit be the maisters of the said mcraft ... that he knaw anotamell, nature and complexion of euery member humanis bodie, and inlykewayes he knaw all the vaynis of the samyn ... for euery man aucht to knaw the nature and substance of euery thing that he werkis, or ellis he is negligent.” From its earliest origins the College has been an examining body principally concerned with the setting and maintenance of professional standards. Another vitally important obligation laid upon the Barber Surgeons was that of ensuring that all who practise the craft should be able to read and write and this literacy requirement is the earliest of any comparable professional body.

From Reel Time to Real Time: Patient Simulation for Chaplain Interns

The simulation center provides the chaplain interns with a safe environment to practice and participate in different scenarios. It gives them the time to familiarize themselves with intensive care conditions such as the equipment, alarms and noise as well as the levels of activity and the very real limitations of space. It is an important opportunity to try new skills, to address their fears of being present in intense medical interventions, to see where improvement in their conduct is needed, to confirm the value of the communication skills they are being taught, and to develop empathy with patients, family members, and hospital staff. The students receive immediate feedback from peers and supervisors as well as immediate reaction from live actors portraying staff, patients, and family. For the teaching supervisor it is a valuable way to observe clinical conduct. It also provides evidence-based observations of the development and maintenance of professional standards. All participants, including the chaplain interns, the teaching supervisors, and the simulation coordinators observe that the CPE goals involving patient simulation are being met. An immediate result of addressing these goals demonstrates that the patients, families, and staff of St. Michael's Hospital receive high-quality spiritual and religious care from chaplain interns who are studying and working to improve their proficiency.

Personal supervision for paediatricians

Contemporary paediatric practice includes considerable exposure to complex, chronic problems with prominent elements of social and emotional disruption. The psychological burden placed on paediatricians involved in this type of work is poorly recognised, both during training and beyond. Personal supervision for paediatricians is put forward as a potentially useful process to assist in maintenance of professional standards and personal well-being.

Professional accreditation of occupational therapy educational programs: A bright or embattled future?

As Australia introduces a new system of individual accreditation through the program for individual accreditation of occupational therapists, there is a need to also consider the place and scope of specialised educational program accreditation in the maintenance of professional standards. The present article reviews issues relating to educational program accreditation including: the need for accreditation and its tradition in occupational therapy; types of accreditation and stakeholders involved; accreditation processes; and evidence of effectiveness. It suggests that professional association demands of programs and the accreditation processes used for audit and inspection must be relevant and reasonable in order to be considered credible and necessary by all stakeholders. Standards and professional accreditation processes that do not demonstrate that they are relevant and reasonable will face an embattled future. Those that do provide mechanisms for true quality improvement through relevant, well‐conceived processes should have a bright future in a world seeking benchmarks for quality in professional preparation programs.

Using Significant Event Analysis in Dental and Medical Education

As part of a new professional development teaching strand at the University of Otago's School of Dentistry, final-year dental students were each asked to write a "thought-provoking episode report" (TPER). These TPERs formed the basis for group discussion in a professional development course. This article outlines the main content themes of the reports, comparing them with similar reports written by medical students from the same university. While both sets of reports demonstrate students' commitment to high standards of care, there were significant differences in the overall themes. Of the fifty-one dental TPERs, the main themes were "difficult" patients, receiving conflicting advice from different clinical tutors, friends as patients, belittlement, and maintenance of professional standards. Key themes from medical students' TPERs included responding to patient suffering, observing or experiencing belittlement, uncertainty, error and complaints, the role of the undergraduate student, treating family and friends, causing distress in order to learn, and issues with mentoring. Possible interpretations of the similarities and differences in this data include confirmation of the value of personal experience as a basis for student discussion, the necessity for formal programs in professional development, and the presence of a hidden curriculum in dental and medical education.

Factors affecting nurses' decisions to join and maintain membership in professional associations

Large organized associations are the most effective tools for the nursing profession for influencing policies that protect the members and continues to provide the highest quality nursing care to the public. Although nursing comprises the largest number of health care workers in the country, fewer and fewer nurses are joining the professional associations that represent them. This study explores factors affecting the membership decisions of nurses practicing in the perianesthesia setting. Surveys were mailed to a random sample of current and former members of ASPAN. All participants identified variables that affected their decision to join their professional association. Nonmembers were asked to identify reasons for not renewing membership. The variables most strongly influencing members and nonmembers to join ASPAN were self-improvement, education, new ideas, programs, professionalism, validation of ideas, improvement of my profession, improvement of my work, and maintenance of professional standards. The only variable that was rated statistically significantly higher by current members was “improvement of my work.” All other 28 variables rated in the study were scored similarly by both groups, indicating that members and nonmembers continue to possess the same professional values. Former members indicated that major deterrents to membership were cost and lack of time. In an economic and cultural environment that requires balancing multiple demands, professional associations need to consider the limited time available to nurses and examine ways to provide professional development opportunities that are more easily accessible. © 2003 by American Society of PeriAnesthesia Nurses.

Perceptions of credentialling for health promotion practitioners in Australia

Issue addressed/objectives: To investigate the self-reported attitudes of health promotion practitioners towards the concept of credentialling of health promotion practitioners in Australia and the requirements perceived to be important if credentialling was introduced. Methods: A non-random convenience sample survey of health promotion practitioners in Australia was conducted using a self-administered written questionnaire. It contained both closed and open-ended questions that allowed for a combination of quantitative and qualitative analysis. Results: A total of 367 questionnaires were returned and analysed. The majority of respondents strongly supported the notion of credentialling. The perceived benefits most strongly agreed to were that credentialling would: assist in the benchmarking of quality standards for tertiary courses in health promotion and other areas that impact on health promotion; increase the accountability of health promotion practitioners for the maintenance of professional standards; and improve professional recognition and standing of health promotion practitioners.

Why ĘMOPSę should become ĘCPDę (continuing professional development)

Objective: To consider the principles underlying the Maintenance of Professional Standards (MOPS) program, in light of current developments in continuing medical education (CME). Conclusions: MOPS is a quality assurance (QA) project that is now outdated and needs review. Current thinking about how doctors learn suggests that what is needed in its place is an educational program based on continuous quality improvement (CQI) and adult learning principles. Such a program would be practice-based, self-directed, peer-supervised and locally managed. This would provide flexibility in meeting the ongoing educational needs of individual Fellows in a way that the current system does not.

Why 'MOPS' should become 'CPD' (continuing professional development)

Objective: To consider the principles underlying the Maintenance of Professional Standards (MOPS) program, in light of current developments in continuing medical education (CME). Conclusions: MOPS is a quality assurance (QA) project that is now outdated and needs review Current thinking about how doctors learn suggests that what is needed in its place is an educational program based on continuous quality improvement (CQI) and adult learning principles Such a program would be practice-based self-directed peer-supervised and locally managed This would provide flexibility in meeting the ongoing educational needs of individual Fellows in a way that the current system does not

The Case for Mandatory MOPS

Objective: To provide background information and a rationale regarding the mandatory Maintenance of Professional Standards (MOPS) Program of the RANZCP. Conclusions: MOPS has evolved over ten years and will continue to develop and change. MOPS programs have been viewed by Medical Colleges as a major force in unifying the profession against destructive outside influences. MOPS is not an assessment of competence or performance, and not equivalent to “recertification”. Rather, MOPS reflects the belief that participation in continuing medical education and quality improvement processes will maintain and improve standards of practice. There is every reason to be confident that, with ongoing adjustment, MOPS will continue to meet the professional development needs of all RANZCP Fellows.

Archaeologists on Conservation: How Codes of Archaeological Ethics and Professional Standards Treat Conservation

Object conservators work within a variety of contexts. Although they are guided by their own code of professional standards, their work is also affected by the codes and practices of the other professionals with whom they work. This article examines the attention given to conservation in the professional codes, standards, and guidelines of the three largest archaeological societies in the United States—the Archaeological Institute of America, the Society for American Archaeology, and the Society for Historical Archaeology—and of the Register of Professional Archaeologists, an organization devoted to the maintenance of professional standards in archaeology. It also discusses the treatment of conservation in guidelines developed by the American School of Classical Studies at Athens and by the American Schools of Oriental Research, which sponsor American excavations in Greece and the N ear East. The purpose is to provide conservators with information on the attitudes toward conservation that are shared by the archaeologists with whom they collaborate, especially in the context of excavation.

Counselling in the United Kingdom: Past, present and future

We chart the development of counselling in Britain since the Second World War through to the present and speculate about possible directions counselling may take in the future. Our major, but not exclusive, focus is on counselling as a developing profession and the particular role that the British Association for Counselling has played in this development. To this end, we consider some of the professional issues that have preoccupied practitioners in the field and those that may do so in the future. Thus, amongst others, we consider the relationship between counselling and psychotherapy, the costs and benefits of counselling's increasing visibility in British society, the role that supervision has come to play in the maintenance of professional standards, the debate that has surrounded the issue of counsellor accreditation/registration, the development of standards and ethics and the tension that exists between the relational and technical aspects of counselling. Counselling does not exist in a vacuum, and this is seen most strikingly in the speculations that we make about future developments of counselling. Thus, for example, we argue that counselling will have to grapple with the increasing emphasis that society places on the accountability of human services and with the inexorable progress occurring in the area of technological development. We note that counselling's response to these significant trends will have to be made against the backdrop of the continuing dissolution of barriers between previously distinct areas of human knowledge .

Exploitation in therapy and counselling: A breach of professional standards

Exploitation in therapy and counselling may occur in only a minority of cases, but when it does, its effects are potentially damaging to both the client and the profession. Exploitation in therapy may take the form of psychological, covert and overt abuse. The most reported form of abuse of the therapeutic relationship is of a sexual nature. However, psychological abuse usually forms the backdrop to sexual exploitation, preceding and perpetuating the sexual involvement. Sexual exploitation in therapy is an abuse of the power imbued in the therapist by nature of his professional role. It allows the therapist a sexual gratification which he would not have been likely to achieve outside the therapeutic relationship. The prevention of sexual exploitation in therapy is an issue of concern to training, employing and professional organisations who seek to maintain high standards of counselling delivery. Determining the variables which may contribute to exploitation is fundamental to avoiding its incidence. This paper discusses the factors underlying the use of therapy and counselling as a medium for therapist abuse. It examines (i) the prevailing conditions for abuse to occur, (ii) how the therapist overcomes client resistance, and (iii) the implications for the maintenance of professional standards.

Physician assessment pilot study for the royal australasian college of physicians

A random sample from the Fellowship of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians was invited to participate in the Physician Assessment (PA) trial, which is being considered as a component of the Maintenance of Professional Standards (MOPS) program. Each Fellow was asked to nominate 15 colleagues to be assessors and each assessor was sent a Physician Assessment Rating Form comprising 12 items on which to rate their clinical skills and humanistic qualities. Of the 452 Fellows in the sample, 245 (54.2%) agreed to participate and nominated an average of 14.8 raters. Rating forms were returned from 3285 raters (90.4%), representing a mean number of 13.4 forms for each physician. Of these, 3257 valid forms were used in the detailed analysis. Scores showed acceptable generalizability, and factor analysis grouped the 12 items into two clear factors representing clinical skills in one factor and humanistic qualities in the other. Implications of this study are discussed, including the views of those who did not participate in the trial.

To Fail or Not to Fail? A Course for Fieldwork Educators

Assigning a failing grade to a student is one of the most important yet problematic responsibilities of a fieldwork educator, for it challenges both personal and professional values. this article describes and evaluates a 1-day course designed to prepare educators for this responsibility. The course was offered five times in 1989 and 1990 by the Derby School of Occupational Therapy, Derby, England, and was attended by 101 fieldwork educators. Surveys were administered to these educators immediately after the course and again 4 and 12 months later. Respondents reported increases in confidence and in their ability to differentiate between students' competence and incompetence. These changes were related to three factors: an understanding of the affective responses associated with a fail scenario, the reinforcement of effective methods of supervision, and the maintenance of professional standards. It is recommended that the topic of failure be included in all fieldwork educator training courses.

EMPLOYEE ASSISTANCE PROGRAMMES IN EUROPE – BARRIERS AND OPPORTUNITIES

Discusses introduction and progress of EAPs in Europe. Makes the case for generating support from management, unions and health professionals and outlines approach to doing this. Provides strategy and tactics for developing EAPs in Europe. Key factors are: a rallying cause for communities; definition of community problems reflected in the workplace; leadership to legitimise the programme, others to implement it in the organisation; resources; diffusion of EAPs among key organisations; maintenance of professional standards and networks.

Nurse Managers at the Broker??s Table

The article uses the symbol of the broker's table to represent full participation in organizational decisions. Nursing needs active involvement in the organizational decision-making process to attain its goals in care provision and maintenance of professional standards. The theme of this article is to encourage nurse executives to develop the brokering skills of their managers. Developing brokering skills rests upon managers' acquisition of power equity, political savy, and knowledge of the organization's culture. These resources combine to empower one for success at the broker's table.