Definition
When it comes to defining professional socialization, it becomes very difficult to give it a precise definition because there is not a single agreed definition of it. There are different definitions of professional socialization offered by different scholars. Some of the scholars believe that the professional socialization is a process through which individuals go through an evolution of acquiring new skills, adopting new habits, behaviors and quitting the old habits as well as behavior so that they would come to terms with the requirements of their professions. Professional socialization is a kind of learning process in which individuals acquires norm, values, culture, attitudes of the working place through different programs. Professional socialization stands for the acquisition of a corporate culture through a proper channel. Professional socialization is also defined as the mechanism that helps new employees in internalizing of the values, integrating with the working place and learning new things regarding the profession life (Masters, 2014).
Three criteria of nursing supporting professional socialization
Three outstanding criteria of the nursing profession that support the professional socialization are the attendance of the patient, shift-time duty and following the instructions of physicians. The attendance of the patient is one of the essential features of the nursing job that helps the novice in going through professional socialization. Attendance of the patient is used here to talk about the process of taking care of the patient by giving medicines and informing the physician in case of any emergency. When fresh graduates practice these things again and again, they learn these essential attitudes and behaviors of the nursing profession. In this way, the novices go through professional socialization (Blais, 2007).
One of the hardest jobs to accomplish for a new comers in the field of nursing is the shift time duty. The nurses are bound to carry out their duty either it comes during the daytime or at night. The shift time duty teaches individuals to be punctual. In other words, the shift time duty teaches individuals the importance of time. The individuals are not allowed to go home until their colleagues do not take the charge of looking after the patient. By performing the shift time duty, the fresh graduates go through the professional socialization and internalize these habits (Dinmohammadi, Peyrovi, & Mehrdad, 2013).
Following the instruction of physician is very important and crucial in the field of nursing. The provision of medicine to the patient according to the physicians’ instruction will be in favor of the patient because it will enable the patient to recover from illness. It is not only restricted to follow the instruction of physicians, but the nurses should motivate patients in having the medicines. Therefore, when fresh graduates follow the instruction of physicians during their evolutionary period, they internalize this important aspect of the nursing profession (Blais, 2007).
Stages of role transition
The first stage of role transition is the very complicated stage for the newcomers, and the novices suffer from intense depression and anxiety (Ellis & Chater, 2015). The fresh graduates try to adjust them in the practical would. They are always busy in accomplishing their tasks. After the initial fourth to five months, the practices nurses enter into the second stage in which they find them quick to achieve their task and learning a new thing about their profession (Claywell, 2009). This stage is known as a learning period, learning about culture, values and skills of the profession. The nurses start differentiating between their personal and professional life and come to know the contradiction within the care system. When the nurses enter into the third stage, in which I am currently involved in, they make the difference between the professional nurse and the common people in their surroundings. They ingrate into the community of professional nurse and develop a relationship with them. When the nurses integrate almost all the required skills, knowledge and values of the profession, they enter into the fourth stage. In the fourth stage, the practice nurses are ready to register them as a professional nurse to practice as registered nurse (Claywell, 2009).
Two barriers to accomplishing the fourth stage
The two possible barriers that may come in the way of accomplishing Clay well’s fourth stage four stage of role transition are financial a crisis and identity crisis (Bell, Campbell, & Goldberg, 2015). If a person does not success to create a distinction between his or her professional life, he or she may fail in completing the fourth stage. Such a person should expose to different programs that facilitate in developing the difference between professional and personal life. The people who do not differentiate between personal and professional life will feel insecure about his personal life and will suffer from the fear of exposing his or her personal life. Such a person should expose to different psychological practices so that he or she will overcome the fear of exposing the private life (Dinmohammadi, Peyrovi, & Mehrdad, 2013). Sometimes, practitioners fail in completing the fourth stage because of the financial crisis. The government should help the practitioners who fail in completing the fourth stage because of the financial crisis by giving a loan on easy terms. Instead of quitting the job the practitioner should seek getting money from a different source such as taking a loan from the bank because the completion of the fourth will help in generating the economy. Individual should encourage continuing the transitional stages.
Areas of differences between LPN and RN
Three areas of differences between LPN and RN are Intravenous Therapy, patient teaching skills and communication skill. These differences are very essential in implementing the role of the RN in providing safe and effective patient care. The nurses are allowed to practice intravenous therapy on a very restricted scale, and there are some kinds of intravenous therapy only practicable for the profession physicians (Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, 2007). The nurses are proscribed from practicing it. However, the nurses who have taken special training of intravenous therapy can practice these therapies too. The instigation of blood and blood products and the instigation of plasma expanders are the sort of therapy only practicable to those who have attended especial training of intravenous therapy to besides the physicians. The intravenous therapy is the essential and important practice of nursing profession because it is one the ways of medicating the patients. Therefore, those nurses who do not have attended any specific training regarding intravenous therapy are allowed to remove the intravenous needles from the veins, calculation and adjustment of the flow rate and changing drips (Dinmohammadi, Peyrovi, & Mehrdad, 2013).
Another important difference is communication skill. Communication skill is the key element of nursing because the nurses have to communicate with the patient as well as to their patients. Therefore, it is necessary for the nurses to be well versed and comprehensive to perform their duties. Communication skills help the nurses to persuade the patient in having the medicines in time so that they would recover soon. The nurses have to face different kinds of patients including normal and abnormal patients. Therefore, the licensed practice nurses are exposed to the different theory of communication prior their joining of the profession so that they would cope with the patient effectively. The nursing students are exposed to different psychological and sociological courses that help them in understanding behaviors of different people. The understanding of behavior facilitates them in having an effective and efficient communication with different peoples (Masters, 2014).
One more difference is the patient teaching skills, and this difference is also one of the essential purposes of nursing. This is highly related to patient and patient’s behavior. The LPNs are taught through this process of learning to observe the behavior of the patient. The nurses observe whether the patients are eager to learning or not, and if any patient is found of learning, he or she is taught on the realistic ground. The patient teaching skills is for the sake of improving patient care. The patient is taught discharge instructions for home care and other care planning.
Conclusion
The entry of the new comers into the first stage of role transition leads them to learn new things, adopting new habits, behavior while enabling them to quit the old attitudes, habits and behaviors. The nursing preparation provides a plate form for the fresh graduates to internalize the required skills. The internalization of the desired skills will help the fresh graduates in performing their duties efficiently. The transitional phase facilitates the graduates in bridging the gap between the academic and professional life (Suva, Sager, & Mina, 2015).
There are different ways of doing professional socialization of the fresh individuals. It can be done through different programs to help novices in the acquisition of the attitudes and skills of professional life but in the field of nursing professional socialization is done through the probation period. The probation period starts upon entering the novices into the first stage of transition. The fresh graduates find themselves to be ready to practice their skills in the profession of nursing when they complete the four-stage of transition. Most of the novices successfully accomplish the transitional periods and perform their duty as nurse in various sanatoriums but sometimes individuals fail in accomplishing their transitional periods due to various reasons. One would not continue the evolutionary period if he or she faces financial crisis. Sometimes, individuals do not face the initial stage of transition because of the intense depression and anxiety, and they go back to further studies (Claywell, 2009).
Nurses are expected to meet the traditional criteria for a profession such as possession of a body of specializes knowledge, use of scientific method to gain knowledge, control of professional policy, nursing as lifetime commitment and code of ethics. The nurses should make fully aware of the fact that it is essential to fulfill the traditional criteria for the nursing profession to become a successful professional. However, some of the traditional practices such as the nursing pin and the cap are not practical in today world and therefore they are questionable. Therefore, there is n no harm, if they are not practiced.
Moreover, popular view of a professional should not forget to teach the novices. The popular view of a professional is that they are thought to be striving for excellence in profession, demonstrate a sense of ethics and responsibility. If the practitioners internalized the popular view of professional they will not find any difficulty in performing their duty and distinguishing between professional and profession. All these will facilitate in going through professional socialization.
References
Bell, E., Campbell, S., & Goldberg, L. R. (2015). Nursing Identity and Patient-Centredness in Scholarly Health Services Research. Bell, Erica; Campbell, Steve; Goldberg, Lynette R , 15 (1), 1-16.
Blais. (2007). Professional Nursing Practice: Concept And Perspectives, 5/E. New Delhi: Pearson Education India.
Claywell, L. (2009). Role Transition. St. Louis: St. Louis.
Dinmohammadi, M., Peyrovi, H., & Mehrdad, N. (2013). Concept Analysis of Professional Socialization in Nursing. Nursing Forum , 48 (1), 26-34.
Ellis, I., & Chater, K. (2015). Practice Protocol: Transition to Community Nursing Practice Revisited. Contemporary Nurse: A Journal for the Australian Nursing Profession , 22 (1), 90-96.
Ellis, J. R., & Hartley, C. L. (2004). Nursing in Today's World: Trends, Issues & Management. Philadelphia: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.
Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. (2007). LPN Expert Guides: I.V. therapy. Philadelphia: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.
Masters, K. (2014). Role Development in Professional Nursing Practice. Massachusetts: Jones & Bartlett Publishers.
Suva, G., Sager, S., & Mina, E. S. (2015). Systematic Review: Bridging the Gap in RPN-to-RN Transitions. Journal of Nursing Scholarship , 47 (4), 363-370.
