In the working world, your professionalism encompasses the way you carry yourself, your attitude and the ways you communicate with others. Being professional can ensure a positive first impression, successful interpersonal relationships and a lasting reputation within your organization and industry. Professionalisms is a quality that is demanded of all professionals. It is the acts that define a particular profession. Being professional is something that everyone requires. The acts that one has to perform differently for different professions. Professionalism is the conduct, behaviour, and attitude of a person in a work or a corporate environment. Professionalism can, indeed, be taught, and it has been for centuries, but not in the.
Among the many values that respiratory therapists must accept upon their entry into the field of respiratory care is the value of professionalism. Professionalism, more than any other trait, will ensure the success of an individual in his or her career.
Professionalism, however, is a complex and elusive quality, which, although not easily taught, is easily recognized as critical once an individual understands his or her role as a professional respiratory therapist.
Whether you are an educator of respiratory care, a manager of respiratory therapists, or a respiratory therapist seeking to learn more about the roles and expectations of your performance on the job and beyond, you will find that students and staff alike may benefit from reviewing this program on Professionalism, developed by the AARC’s Membership and PR Committee. You may use it for:
- classroom teaching
- an inservice program
- self-study
- a continuing education meeting module

The program is available in PowerPoint and HTML format. A read-along script is incorporated into the program within the “Notes” view of the PowerPoint presentation. Feel free to adapt and use it as a basis for your own presentation. (Please see your PowerPoint manual for specific questions on the operation of that application.)
You may download these supplemental materials discussed in the program:
Pinnacle video capture device. Following the PowerPoint presentation to groups of students or staff, brief discussion of issues raised in the program is suggested. Examples of questions that could be used to initiate such discussion are:
- What behaviors have you observed among health care providers that you consider unprofessional?
- Are there behaviors that you consider essential to professionalism that were not addressed in the program?
- What is the most important attribute of the professional you most admire?
Following such discussion, you may find it helpful to summarize the major points raised by participants.
pro·fes·sion·al·ism
prəˈfeSHənlˌizəm
noun
- the competence or skill expected of a professional. “the key to quality and efficiency is professionalism”
- the practicing of an activity, especially a sport, by professional rather than amateur players.

Reefer madnessgraffiti movies & documentaries. To you, professionalism may mean how you or your colleagues dress, the image you/they portray or the perception that you/they convey. It may be the essence in which you communicate vocally, verbally, or nonverbally. How do you balance the development of relationships and maintaining a professionalism culture at the same time?
This month we will cover all of these topics and much more as we work to develop our professional culture at Headway while maintaining a fun, exciting and innovative atmosphere that is so iconic of Headway.
Professionalism Scenarios
I think that everyone can agree with the www.dol.gov statement that “Employers want new workers to be responsible, ethical, and team-oriented, and to possess strong communication, interpersonal, and problem-solving skills. Wrap these skills up together and you’ve got professionalism.”
Professionalism is a complex combination of knowledge, skills, abilities, and perception that everyone (and every has an opportunity to work on. Most importantly, it is directly correlated to an organizations culture. Take a minute to think about the culture here at Headway Workforce Solutions.
Take another minute to think about other organizations that you have worked at. Does professionalism (or lack thereof) improve the morale of the employees? Does it make people more or less productive? Does it make the organization more or less collaborative or innovative?

Think about what professionalism means to you and reflect on what you do to maintain that level that you bring to the organization on a day-to-day basis. Think about what you can do to become more professional as well as what you can do to make your core teamwork more professionally.
Professionalism
-Alex Smith, Account Manager
