Week 1 Professionalism in Health Science

The most common elements influencing one’s presentation of professionalism and employability include the following:

• Confidence: Do you look like you believe you know what you are doing, but can avoid being cocky about it?
• Competence: Do  your words & actions convince others you can complete your duties correctly?
• Responsible: Do you do what you are assigned to do or say you will do?
• Ethics: Do they feel that they can trust you to do what is right?
• Poise: Can you remain calm & focused under expected stressors, as well as regain composure to the unexpected?
• Communication: Can you communicate effectively in person, on the phone, and electronically?
• Organized: Are you efficient with your time, as well as the time of others?
• Appearance: Do others think you look like you are the right one for the job?
• Reflective Self-Improvement: Do you admit your faults & mistakes, and more importantly work to overcome them?

These components, among others, influence other’s perspectives about you and it is important to understand that these perceptions, whether real to you or not, defines who you are in the eyes of others including teammates and supervisors.

Most of these questions are simple YES or NO. You did or did not do "it" 100% of the time, or everything else.

Yes, life has many "grey areas" not addressed by these answer options. This is because teammates and supervisors do not watch every second, but luck often has a way in unfortunately making people look at the worst possible moment.