Description of professional socialization
It is difficult to define professional socialization because there are differences of opinion over the definition of professional socialization among scholars, and different scholars have defined it differently. Professional socialization is the process through which individuals acquire different skills to meet professional needs and by quitting the old habits (Dinmohammadi, Peyrovi, & Mehrdad, 2013). Professional socialization is done through different programs instilling different attitudes, values and norms into the employees. Professional socialization is the name for the acquisition of culture though a channel. It is also defined as the process of internalization, integration and learning (Bell, Campbell, & Goldberg, 2015).
Three criteria of the nursing profession supporting professional socialization are the attendance of the patient for the provision of first ads, by shift duty timing and interaction with people. Individuals acquire different skills during the provision of first add. The provisions of the first add are part of the nursing profession. Through the provision of the first add individuals go through the process of professional socialization. The nursing field is more likely to support the professional socialization because it is all about practicing instead of theorizing. When one performs her duty as a nurse in a hospital, she goes through professional socialization by learning the importance of timetable and punctuality. The profession of nursing supports the professional socialization by making a fresh graduate practice to follow the duty timing by turn. When the nurses interact with different people while performing their duties, they not only learn to deal with the people but also learn many other elements such as to become friendliness and to cooperate with individuals. Their interactions with patient make them agile, alert, loving and serene. This also shows that the profession of nursing is supportive to the professional socialization (Claywell, 2009).
The four stages of role transitional
The four stages of role transitional listed at the end of the Module Notes are becoming, doing, being and knowing (Claywell, 2009). The first three to four month of the nurses goes in the process of adjustment and learning new things in their practical world. The beginning months are very hard for the fresh comers because they go through the process of integrating into the professional field. The fresh graduates have very little time to think of doing other stuff because they are too busy to complete their task set before them. They find it difficult to survive the experience and suffer from deep anxiety. The new comers do not let their sense of incompetence and anxiety reveal. The next four to five months are known as doing or second stage, in which one finds rapidness and consistency into the work, the ability to resolving issues and achieving the target.
When fresh graduates enter into the second stage, their knowledge of the field has increased and, therefore, they start learning rapidly. Their competency in the field becomes advanced. They learn to perform their responsibilities comfortably (Dinmohammadi, Peyrovi, & Mehrdad, 2013). The nurses learn a difference between their professional life and personal life and struggle to maintain a balance between the two selves. The practitioners face contradictions and awkwardness within the care system because they the practical world too different form the academic learning. The third and last stage teaches them to make the difference between the common people in their surrounding and the professional practitioners as a nurse. They integrate into the community of professional practitioners. The enhancement of knowledge and experience in the field the practitioners make comfortable in performing their duties and teach developing relationship and cooperation with the colleagues. With the passage of time, the practitioners start critically examining their profession and examine their professional responsibilities from a different perspective including social and cultural.
The second stage in which I am currently involved in is a relatively comforting stage because in this stage one enjoys learning new thing regarding the practical field and feels increasingly competency in handling different issues (Claywell, 2009). The overwhelming anxiety and the sense of incompetence are no more teasing the practitioners. The increasing knowledge of the field and the ability to think quickly install confidence into the practitioners. However, they struggle in developing distance between professional self and the personal self and learn to know that the professional life is different from academic life.
There are different barriers that may interfere with accomplishing Claywell’s fourth stage of role transition but two of the outstanding barriers are included “the personal meanings of the transition while relating it to the identity crisis of the individuals” and lack of knowledge and skill which do not allow the practitioner to relate the experiences to the past experiences of school timing (Masters, 2014, p. 164). The individuals suffer from an identity crisis in this sense that they feel incompetence and lack of knowledge while performing their duties. This develops a sense of failure to them, and they do not find themselves knowing the field (Suva, Sager, & Mina, 2015). These two barriers do not permit the novices in knowing the profession fully, and they sometimes become the factors compelling the practitioner to quit the evaluation period and rejoin the institution or another field. To overcome the identity crisis, the practitioners should teach that no profession is free from deviance and individuals have to live with all the differences in the professional and personal lives. It should also be taught that the process of role transition is a very slow process, and the practitioner does not feel themselves competent within the short span of time, but it also take time to be competent in any field. It should be put into the minds of novices that they are getting to know the practice field and their sense of failure or incompetence are the beginning of knowing the field (Blais, 2007).
One of the differences is the Intravenous Therapy, and the licensed practical nurses (LPN) are allowed to implement this therapy on a limited scale (Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, 2007, p. 28). There are some areas of intravenous therapy that do not fall under the nursing such as instigation of blood as well as blood products, and the instigation of plasma expanders are only implemented by the physicians. However, the practitioner who have accomplished a nursing program or who are graduate practical nurses are allowed to implement this therapy but on limited scale such as the calculation and the adjustment of the flow rate, dress changing, investigating the placing site. They are also allowed to scrutinize the symbols of unfavorable reactions and the removal of the intravenous needle from the veins. The Licensed practical nurses are required to fulfill the criteria of competency and knowledge. The implementation of the therapy is allowed to only those practitioners who complete a therapy course from the board. Individuals have to face the Nurse Practice Act and the rules of charting. Upon the successful completion of the training of intravenous therapy, the candidates are given permission to implement the therapy (Claywell, 2009).
Another difference is the “Nursing care planning” and this difference concentrates on the necessary skill that are needed to take care of the nurse at the right time. The nursing care planning helps students in developing critical thinking besides instilling skills to resolves problems. The nursing care planning makes sure the provision of the standardized nursing practice. Furthermore, the nursing care planning introduces the students to clinical guidelines and care map.
The educational preparation is the process through which individuals enter into the field of nursing. The educational preparation provides three different educational ways for the sake of participating into the nursing practice. The three routes are namely associate degree, diploma, and baccalaureate. The educational preparation should in the context of meeting the required skills, and knowledge. The educational preparation either through a diploma or any other means of learning should be aimed in helping the learners to enter in the practical field as a beginner. If students successfully accomplish in the academic studies, it is not difficult for them to integrate into the real world experiences of nursing (Masters, 2014). Therefore, the educational preparation provides foundations that facilitate the practitioners to advancing in their respective field.
Conclusion
The professional socialization starts at the time when the fresh graduates enter into the first stage of the role of transition. The entrance of fresh graduates into the nursing preparations is the source providing ways to internalize skills related to nursing and developing professional identities. To provide professional socialization to the fresh practitioner, there should a proper planning prior sending them to the practical world. Therefore, there should be different programs to facilitate the newcomers to acquire the required skills, knowledge and technique for performing the duty of nurse. The programs should be framed according to the real world experience so that the practitioner does not face uneasiness during their evolutionary period. Furthermore, the professional socialization can be done by allowing the new practitioners are observing patients at the time when the professional nurses provide caring. The students should give different tasks to accomplish, and the tasks should be related to the professional socialization. The introduction of the nursing student to different tasks that are related to the professional field will help integrating the professional values and culture into students. Since the entrance into the college student should make habitual of attending the patients communicating with patient attendance and cooperating with the colleagues because it will facilitate the students accommodating in the practical world of nursing after their completion of graduation and will help in acquiring professional skills, techniques, and values. In other world, the professional socialization will provide the basis for clinical practice and help students involving in professional practices including performing their responsibilities and roles (Dinmohammadi, Peyrovi, & Mehrdad, 2013).
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: oncept 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.
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.
