Display professional behaviour at work

At the early registrar level it is expected that a prevocational doctor displays professional behaviour at work.

This task describes a number of activities, as below, where proficiency should be achievable by the end of PGY3.  The doctor is encouraged to download the key clinical task guidelines and seek the support of his/her supervisor for feedback on performance. Updated key clinical tasks will be available soon for download.

  • Completed Hand Hygiene module; applies hand hygiene in practice
  • Is punctual, efficient and responsive to requests
  • Dresses appropriately
  • Moderates behaviour and is tolerant
  • Makes decisions/communicates with respect
  • Displays an ethical approach in the workplace
  • Supportive of no bullying or harassment in the workplace

Related Competencies:

Collaboration and teamwork

Establish respectful good working relationships with team members and other healthcare professionals

Collaboration and teamwork

Recognise the roles and responsibilities of other professionals within the healthcare team; respect and listen to their concerns about the patient

Collaboration and teamwork

Resolve simple conflict with another team member to the satisfaction of both

Collaboration and teamwork

Awareness and respect of differences, misunderstandings and limitations with other team members

Collaboration and teamwork

Accept responsibility for own roles and tasks

Communication

Provide clear and accurate information to patients for common procedures in the unit and most commonly prescribed medications

  • Build rapport with the patient’s family and/or carer(s)
  • Show  respect for diversity, confidentiality and autonomy when communicating with patients e.g. adapt language, use of interpreter services
  • Actively listen to patients and families using techniques such as appropriate eye contact, attending to verbal and non-verbal cues and clarifying information provided by patient
Health advocacy

Is courteous and compassionate to all patients, without discrimination, regardless of a patient’s chosen lifestyle, e.g. discuss options, offer choices

Judgement and clinical decision making

Following any error in clinical reasoning, reflect on own clinical reasoning process and learn from mistake

Judgement and clinical decision making

Recognise personal limitations and ensure appropriate supervision

Leadership and management

Work well with others to gain respect and trust

Leadership and management

Recognise discrimination, sexual harassment and bullying issues and know the hospital response requirements

Leadership and management

Prioritise own workload to fit time available

Leadership and management

Awareness of the stresses of clinical practice an how this can affect you as an individual

Leadership and management

Participate and demonstrate leadership in patient safety and quality improvement activities

Medical expertise

Practise hand hygiene, noting standard precautions, transmission-based precautions, personal protective equipment and aseptic technique

Medical expertise

Know and work within hospital, state and government policies and legislation relating to prescribing. Make use of guidelines and standard documents, e.g. National Inpatient Medication Chart

  • Accurately and safely prescribe (common) medications and recognise (potential) administration errors
  • Know the types, causes and risks of medication errors and adverse drug reactions
  • Use standard reporting mechanisms to report medication errors and adverse drug reactions
Medical expertise

Seek help when unsure

Professionalism

Adhere to medical codes of practice and model professional behaviours including honesty, integrity, commitment, compassion, respect and altruism

Professionalism

Recognise and accept responsibility for ethical issues as they relate to patients within the clinical unit

Professionalism

Recognise that it is inappropriate to practise when impaired, e.g. fatigue, ill health, alcohol, medications

Professionalism

Balance the demands of personal life and work

Scholarship and teaching

Apply confidentiality codes relating to the educational environment

Scholarship and teaching

Attend unit or morbidity/mortality meetings. Identify any personal knowledge, skills or behaviour changes required

Scholarship and teaching

Seek opportunities for feedback to reflect on and learn from clinical practice

Scholarship and teaching

Participate in research, quality improvement and clinical audit activities where possible

  • Participate in research
  • Undertake literature searches relevant to the clinical care of patients, including use of PubMed, Medline and Cochrane reviews
  • Apply critical appraisal skills when reading medical literature
  • Compare outcomes of published research studies relating to clinical care within the unit
Scholarship and teaching

Reflect on and learn from own observations of clinical practice

Technical expertise

Undertake training through a combination of simulation and direct supervision

Collaboration and teamwork

Work harmoniously within a team and resolve simple team conflicts

Collaboration and teamwork

Participate in shared decision-making activity involving patients, families and relevant health professionals, such as development of a care plan noting reference to open disclosure in ‘Communication’ section

Communication

Communicate effectively within multidisciplinary teams, reflecting an understanding of, and respect for, different health professional perspectives

Health advocacy

Note and understand the Enduring Power of Attorney and the Advanced Care Directives

Health advocacy

Take into account the impact of history and experience of Indigenous Australians/Maori people, and their spirituality and relationship with the land

Judgement and clinical decision making

Able to explain processes of diagnostic reasoning

Judgement and clinical decision making

Has awareness and acknowledges errors or omissions in own decision making

Leadership and management

Know the hospital protocols for managing disruptive behaviours including bullying, discrimination sexual harassment

Leadership and management

Contribute actively within a committee structure

Medical expertise

Recognise when a patient is dying and implement an appropriate care plan

Medical expertise

Identify medical errors or adverse events and implement the appropriate clinical protocols to manage them

Professionalism

Acknowledge ethical complexity of clinical practice, and follow professional and ethical codes (Australian Medical Council and Medical Council New Zealand)

Professionalism

Monitor own health and fitness and seek medical help when appropriate

Professionalism

Mitigate personal health risks of medical practice, e.g. fatigue, stress

Scholarship and teaching

Provide constructive, timely and specific feedback to interns based on observation of a junior’s performance, encouraging them to reflect on their own learning

Scholarship and teaching

Assist with a research trial being undertaken in the organisation that may lead to presentation or publication

  • Frame a clinical question
  • Analyse and present outcome of literature search to colleagues, both oral and written form
  • Apply appropriate statistical methods to answer a clinical question
Scholarship and teaching

Contribute to unit morbidity/mortality meetings

Scholarship and teaching

Use current evidence-based resources in own learning, in communicating with patients and in making decisions about the care of patients

Technical expertise

Attend training sessions undertaken by other members of the multi-disciplinary team

Collaboration and teamwork

Identify issues that impede teamwork and suggest actions; after discussion with Unit Head, assist with implementation

Collaboration and teamwork

Collaborate effectively with other specialist teams involved in the patient’s care

Communication

Set an appropriate tone for any communication with patients and their families, peers and colleagues

Communication

Communicate clearly and compassionately when breaking bad news or discussing difficult topics (deterioration, poor prognosis, resuscitation and end-of-life issues)

Health advocacy

Contribute to continuing education of patient support network and community groups

Health advocacy

Contribute to the hospital’s work on prioritised health issues

Health advocacy

Counsel patients appropriately on the benefits and risks of screening and health promotion activities

Health advocacy

Acknowledge the potential impact of cultural differences in the acceptance of treatment for common conditions and work within those parameters

Health advocacy

Identify own knowledge gaps in relation to different community groups, their histories and specific health issues and undertake self-directed learning

Judgement and clinical decision making

Recognise when a management plan is failing and, where appropriate, seek senior input to devise an alternative plan

Judgement and clinical decision making

Recognise instances of uncertainty and conflicting values, and able to alleviate their potential impact

Leadership and management

Demonstrate ways to handle discrimination, bullying and sexual harassment that discourage inappropriate behaviour

Leadership and management

Remain calm under pressure

Leadership and management

Able to discuss the structure and function of healthcare systems applicable to specialty and country

Medical expertise

Have ongoing awareness of gaps in own knowledge and address these

Professionalism

Liaise with legal and statutory authorities, including mandatory reporting, where applicable

Professionalism

Provide evidence or attend court to support a colleague

Professionalism

Prepare police reports, or reports for community advocate/guardian, that have been appropriately reviewed by hospital management’s legal advisors

Professionalism

Recognise signs of a colleague in difficulty and respond with empathy

Professionalism

Deal with ethical uncertainty and conflicting values; maintain ethical standards

Scholarship and teaching

Use a range of resources in educational planning

  • Portfolio analysis
  • Incorporate teaching into clinical work
  • Undertake induction of medical students, peers and juniors
  • Identify issues of stress relating to educational activities and promote strategies for positive change
Scholarship and teaching

Identify areas of improvement in teaching/ learning activities and work with Unit Head/ Director of Surgery to implement change

Scholarship and teaching

Use multi-disciplinary team meetings as teaching and educational opportunities

Scholarship and teaching

Identify personal learning objectives using a learning plan

Technical expertise

Able to assess advanced Essential Surgical Skills constructs (competent with basic and intermediate) both for use in current position as well as for surgical education and training (SET) application – career pathway

Technical expertise

Competent with intermediate and many of the advanced Essential Surgical Skills constructs

Leadership and management

Accept a hospital committee role, as member of the medical team or as trainee representative