Professionalism is a quality that takes time to develop. To me, being professional means operating with the upmost honesty and integrity of ones field. At it’s very core professionalism involves making sure you are punctual, polite, respectful, and commit to tasks being finished in an efficient manner. Sometimes I feel as though it is hard to say exactly what something is and sometimes it can be better to give examples of what something is not.  Professionalism is not allowing someone to frustrate you to the point of you losing composure. Professionalism is not seeking to cut corners in order to do less work. These qualities are important to me because they are foundational to my future interactions with my patients and colleagues. Being professional in all situations will allow me to communicate and gather information efficiently and aid me in giving the best care possible.

As medical students, wee  learn daily from our peers and preceptors on how to maintain this honesty and integrity. We must always remember important deadlines, be punctual for mandatory events, and be respectful to our fellow peers. Our preceptors show us how our daily interactions with patients and ancillary staff should go. I remember when I had a true test of professionalism during my clerkship year in surgery. Here is a reflection of mine from an event that occurred:

Dear Diary,

The last few weeks of the surgery ring have been trying, to say the least. The early mornings and late evenings have really tested my abilities to maintain time management and composure with those around me. With 4^th planning for 4^th year consuming most of my thoughts and recent bad news I was struggling to hold it all together.  Last week was particularly hard because of some adverse interactions with some of the OSU surg techs. The day started off just the same. Up at 4:30 for 5:30 rounds. Get to the scrub machine and hope I don’t forget any of my necessary items in my book bag. iPad for doing questions, snack bars, and a scrub cap to get me through the restricted area. Rounds were fast as usual. I helped where I could in getting the numbers for patients during the day. I presented to the best of my ability while still making a few mistakes. Overall, I thought it would be a bearable day and after I would go home to relax as well as try to study for impending doom. I mean shelf exams. I went off with a light spirt looking forward to seeing my first ventral hernia repair. As I entered the room, I introduced myself to all who were in attendance, wrote my name on the board, and went to retrieve my gloves. My first interactions with the surg tech/circulator nurse were subtle. Lack of acknowledgement of my existence and general shortness when asking a question. I shrugged it off and continued to help with getting the patient prepped. As I went through this process little whispers to others regarding things, I was doing kept entering my ear. Moreover, my interactions with the, continued to be cold. They scolded me for placing things in the wrong area and getting a blanket because I was cold. Again. I grinned and bared it while continuing to try to be as helpful as possible. Others noticed how she was treating me and tried to give smiles and reassurance. As the Foley catheter was being placed, blood suddenly was gushing force and we had to wait an hour to start the case again. The circulator nurse had caused an alternate tunnel in the patient’s penis. The interactions that followed were very interesting. The nurse vehemently denied that she had caused the problem, even after the urology resident had said there were no anatomical abnormalities to have caused it. The attending had taken noticed to her lack of professionalism and seemed very disappointed. He ended up pulling me aside to explain how that is not how people in situations like these should act and that he hoped I learned from their mistakes. It was then that I told him how they had been inappropriate with their interactions toward me. He noticed too and would talk to them after the case. As I began to scrub with avagard, the scrub tech, with even more boldness spoke to others in room saying, “you see that? You see what the med students are doing? She’s doing it all wrong.” I had been rubbing in the alcohol in up to my elbows when I should have only been touching my wrist. I was embarrassed by the public humiliation and spoke out openly “If there’s something I’m doing wrong can you speak to me directly.” I had lost my composure and while I still maintained professionalism, I was not going to take this kind of verbal abuse anymore. One of the other nurses stepped in and volunteered to take me to the scrub room and help educate me on proper scrub technique. She wanted to prevent anything further from happening. She was very sweet and kind. She told me she had saw what they had been doing the entire time and wanted to help me re-compose myself. I burst into tears. Mainly because of the frustration that I had been holding in all day. But it was also because the stress of everything seem to come down all upon me in that moment. It was then that the attending arrived to scrub and saw me crying. I relayed to him that the scrub tech and nurse circulator had continued to treat me adversely. He comforted me as well and was visibly upset with what had happened and decided then to confront them openly about how they had been treating me. After some time talking with the sweet nurse educator, I regained my composure and went back to scrub, correctly. I decided to return with a positive attitude and make the best of the rest of the day. The scrub tech apologized quickly as I entered the room. The nurse circulator did not speak to me again. The same day the attending sent me an email asking to speak with me about what happened during the day. We went for coffee and he commended me on how I maintained my professionalism throughout that interaction and even went above and beyond afterwards (His evaluation listed below). As I reflect on this interaction, the idea that you can’t please everyone solidifies in my mind. Sometimes we have to pick and choose our battles, but we always should stand up for ourselves. Do the right thing, even if people are trying to bring the worst out of you. Lastly, communicate with your superiors about these kinds of events so they can be your advocate. Until next time!

Sincerely,

Starling