Professional Presence And Influence

A nurse’s overall comportment and communications style, collectively referred to as professional presence, has become increasingly central to core competencies in healthcare. Professional presence impacts the way an individual nurse, and even an entire institution, is perceived by patients and the community. Nurse leaders need to focus more on human resources and professional development practices that stimulate professional presence and related competencies in what is colloquially known as bedside manner. Research is increasingly revealing the direct correlation between patient satisfaction and the minute details of a nurse’s presence, including manner of dress (Ketchem, 2016). Each model of health and healing, including the physical body model, the body-mind model, the body-mind-spirit model, the bio-psycho-social model, the Eastern model, and Western model all inform models of professional comportment, demeanor, and presence. Furthermore, professional presence impacts the extent of a nurses’ influence on nursing practice, patient care, institutional policy, organizational culture, and even public policy in healthcare.
Models of Health and Healing
Each model of health and healing will offer different options and opinions on ideal professional presence and modes of nursing influence. The body-mind-spirit model presents a holistic vision of healthcare, impacting approaches to patient care in multiple healthcare setting including psychiatric care (Rentala, Fong, Nattala, et al., 2015). Within a body-mind-spirit model, the nurse cultivates a professional presence in accordance with the philosophical principles of holistic care. Cultural competencies remain critical to the body-mind-spirit model, as well as to the bio-psycho-social model of healthcare. The bio-psycho-social model is akin to the body-mind-spirit model, taking into account cultural and sociological factors impacting healthcare, attitudes towards healthcare and wellness, and beliefs about healing. On the contrary, the physical body model of healthcare promotes a more singular vision of the role of the nurse, which in turn impacts professional presence and demeanor. The physical body model may not entirely discount the spiritual or cultural dimensions of healing, but it does pre-empt those issues in favor of allopathic medical interventions. Models of health and healing impact beliefs and worldviews, including those that inform what it means to be human. Whereas the physical body model leaves existential and eschatological concerns out of the healthcare equation, while still respecting patient autonomy, individuality, and cross-cultural views on healing, the bio-psycho-social model does far more to incorporate spiritual values and viewpoints into models of what it means to be human.
Models and Professional Presence
The different models of healthcare also impact professional presence. Nurse leaders ascribing to the physical body model will ensure that their nursing staff segregate issues related to spirituality from medical care, whereas those promoting the body-mind-spirit or bio-psycho-social model might encourage nursing staff to allow spirituality to infiltrate healthcare (O’Brien, 2018). In either case, though, professional presence encompasses all aspects of interpersonal communication and organizational culture under one cohesive rubric of healthcare. The nurse leverages emotional intelligence and professional competencies in order to promote high quality of care and positive patient outcomes.
Influence on Nursing Practice
Models of healthcare influence attitudes towards what it means to be human, professional presence, and also other aspects of nursing practice. For example, the physical body model of healthcare has a direct impact on nursing practice in that complementary or alternative modalities might be discounted in favor of evidence-based interventions. The bio-psycho-social model of healthcare would also stress evidence-based practice interventions while also acknowledging the importance of spirituality in caring for patients (Potter, Perry, Stockert, et al., 2016). Administrative decisions, linked to the design of the healthcare institution, institutional policies and procedures, leadership style, and organizational structure, are also pragmatic concerns connected with models of healthcare and professional presence.
Personality Preferences
Personality Assessment Submission
The following results from the Jung personality test indicate that I am an INFP (Introvert-iNtuitive-Feeler-Perceiver).
Test Results Analysis
Test results indicate that I can be private and reserved, and yet still dedicated and caring in my attitude towards patients. I appreciate solitude and time alone, and can be quiet and understated in team environments, which impacts my professional presence. In accordance with my alliance to the bio-psycho-social model of healthcare, I take an intuitive approach that allows for spiritual values and beliefs to influence patient healthcare decisions. I value compassion and harmony over logic and order, although I can also be a perfectionist who pays great attention to detail and meeting deadlines. Easy to work with due to my ability to see conflicts from multiple perspectives, I also have a tendency to avoid conflict. The test results therefore do align with my relationships, favorite activities, and career choices. For instance, I have close one-on-one relationships and value intimacy more than I do being a social butterfly. I prefer deep conversation to shallow interactions. Favorite activities likewise reflect my personality type according to the Jung test. I like traveling and seeing new things. My style of travel also reflects my personality type, as I prefer to move in a spontaneous fashion as opposed to an organized tour. My career choices also show that I am an INFP, as I am drawn to the softer side of healthcare and patient interactions instead of the methodical, rigid approach of allopathic medicine.
However, being an INFP does present challenges and even barriers to communication and decision making in professional nursing practice. Although open-minded, I can become frustrated when people with more extraverted communications styles dominate discussions. Because I am naturally inclined towards being reserved, I withhold my opinions to allow others to speak. Yet doing this allows dominant members of the team to prevail in a discussion before I have the chance to assert my dissenting opinion. With greater self-awareness I can work with opposite personality types more effectively.
Mindfulness Practice
Mindfulness refers to an ongoing state of self-awareness in personal and professional practice. In nursing, mindfulness has already been well established as a means to reduce burnout and other symptoms of stress (Song & Lindquist, 2015). Nurses can incorporate the evidence-based principles of mindfulness into their professional practice in order to wield greater and more meaningful influence on patient outcomes. A mindfulness practice can and should be individualized to align with the nurse’s interests, goals, and beliefs. Similarly, a mindfulness practice can be in accordance with one’s Jungian personality type. For example, I am an INFP—a nurse who favors interactions based on intuition, feeling, perceptions, and solitary meditations on the meaning of human existence. As such, I am interested in how my fellow nurses and colleagues in healthcare envision their roles as healers. I am also interested in my colleagues’ attitudes towards emerging healthcare technologies and approaches to medical interventions, whether they ascribe to the Western or Eastern healthcare modalities. Considering the bio-psychosocial and the physical body models of healthcare, I can see how mindfulness techniques can enhance my professional presence and influence in my organization and perhaps even on healthcare public policy.
Whole Person Goals
My goals as a healthcare professional are not dissimilar from those that correspond to the whole person goals I cultivate. Whole person goals include the ability to empathize with others who are different from me, and whose beliefs differ significantly from my own. If I eventually contribute to the improvement of global healthcare expectations and standards, I would want my whole person goals to reflect my training and core competencies. Therefore, my professional presence and influence need to reflect my whole person goals.
Two specific goals should in turn pertain to each of the four aspects of my whole person, which means physical, vital or rhythmic, mental/emotional, and biographical/spiritual body aspects of myself. The two specific goals I would like to discuss include those related to the improvement of my physical health and one related to my social wellbeing. One of the goals that relates to mindfulness practice and nursing together is physical health. Physical health goals specifically include weight loss and preventative care. I would frame physical health in terms of vital and rhythmic objectives such as sleep patterns and metabolic regulation. Physical health goals also include mental and emotional health and the reduction of stress. The biographical issues that impact my professional presence and personal comportment also play into the way I maintain balance in my approach to patient care. With physical health as a major personal and professional goal, I can better relate to patient physical health goals and patient outcomes. Similarly, with social and emotional intelligence as predominant goals, I can focus more on how I can be a better caregiver who is sensitive to the needs of patients even when their worldviews or cultural background differs from my own. Mindfulness is the key to recognizing my own biases and beliefs, while also respecting those of my patients (Van der Riet, Rossiter, Kirby, et al., 2015). With mindfulness incorporated into my personal and professional presence, I can also become a more astute and influential nurse leader.
Achievement of Goals
Achieving goals linked to mindfulness, including physical health and social or emotional intelligence goals, requires self-awareness. I can adjust to the changing of my whole person without sacrificing my values or sense of self. While becoming my best self, I can contribute more to the wellbeing of my patience and the harmony of my fellow healthcare workers and the healthcare organization. The “demanding nature” of healthcare requires nurses to cultivate a professional stance and demeanor that is in accordance with their major values and beliefs, and which also reduces stress and “builds resilience,” (Van der Reit, Levitt-Jones & Aquino-Russell, 2018, p. 201). Mindfulness has become critical to civil interactions among nursing staff, imparting a harmonious work environment, preventing workplace toxicity or workplace bullying (Green, 2018). The goals I have include social and emotional harmony, which in turn contribute to my ability to deliver culturally competent patient care. I can adjust to changes in my communication and leadership style by pushing through difficulties and refusing to give into pressures to conform to undesirable expectations. For example, my goal of improving physical health include eating a more sensible diet and exercising regularly, instead of expecting my patients to do so without me setting a prime example.
Healing Environments
The optimal healing environments in a healthcare organization are those that are culturally appropriate and sensitive to patient needs. Moreover, the optional healing environment mirrors the nursing staff ideals and philosophical orientation. Internal, interpersonal, behavioral, and external environments become aligned with nurse professional goals, professional presence, and professional influence. Two direct patient care optimal healing environments include a psychiatric nursing setting and a geriatric nursing and healthcare institution. As Maria dos Santos, Kozasa, Carmagnani, et al. (2016) point out in research on mindfulness among healthcare workers, it is important for nurses to cultivate the level of self-awareness that can promote optimal patient outcomes. In a geriatric care setting, the nurse can collaborate with fellow members of the healing team to provide patient care according to personal and familial wishes. Psychiatric patients may require additional assistance navigating the stigmas linked to mental health within their respective communities. As Walker & Mann (2016) show, mindfulness has become an evidence-based professional practice intervention for nurses in multiple healing environments.
Best Practices
Best practices inform how I can apply self-awareness and insight to promote professional presence in my current healthcare setting. Research shows how mindfulness on its own promotes respect for the patient and cultural competencies (Green, 2018; Walker & Mann, 2016). As a nurse leader, I can also influence colleagues and members of the healthcare team. Promoting nurse physical health includes becoming more demanding of the institution in terms of maintaining a work-life balance, preventing nurse burnout, and offering more healthful choices for food and exercise for nursing staff. Evidence-based practices applied to patients needs to be applied equally as well to nursing professionals.
Professional Presence Promotion
Because professional presence requires both physical health and emotional/social/spiritual health, I remain dedicated to optimized quality of care within the confines of institutional and legal guidelines. The professional presence I promote reflects the values and principles of the organization. I also align my practice and professional presence with the core competencies of the profession and its ethical values. Promoting professional presence means cultivating cultural competencies and compassion for diversity among the patient population.
Conclusion
Professional presence refers to how a nurse presents the healthcare profession as a whole, and specifically embodies the mission and values of the healthcare organization. Measured using standardized means like the Jung personality type, a nurse can assess individualized tendencies towards certain types of professional comportment. Mindfulness and self-awareness enhance the nurse’s ability to provide optimal evidence-based patient care. The healing environment is culturally sensitive and ultimately provides patients with the physical, psychological, and spiritual healing necessary for holistic care.









References
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