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News & Reports bva congress
Is professionalism dead? What is meant by professionalism and how relevant is it in today’s consumer-driven society? This was one of the topics discussed at this year’s BVA Congress at the London Vet Show. Georgina Mills reports
‘It is quite hard to define, as a professional working in practice, what professionalism actually means, and how this squares up with commercialism and profit,’ said Tom Mowlem, a practice director with Vets4Pets, as he opened the debate at the BVA Congress on November 20. There were many words that were associated with professionalism, such as ethics, behaviour, altruism and values, but what did this mean for vets? On the whole, he said, there had been an ‘erosion of trust’ from the general public towards all professions. The respect and trust that the public once had for professionals seemed to have waned; however, veterinary surgeons were still quite highly regarded. The increasing number of corporateowned veterinary practices had been seen to be a threat to the role of the vet
536 | Veterinary Record | November 28, 2015
in society, and there was a worry that the profession might turn into a service industry by commoditising the profession. ‘The reality is,’ said Mr Mowlem, ‘that, irrespective of the ownership model, all veterinary businesses need to earn a profit Liz Mossop and Tom Mowlem, who discussed changing attitudes to professionalism at the BVA Congress at the London Vet Show to survive.’ Corporate practices might have formalised this process, but this should not had professional standards of dress and make a difference to how the practice was uniform; and they provided up-to-date run. health information for clients via all media In many ways, the corporate model was sources. Corporate practices had been active improving veterinary professionalism, he in the RCVS Practice Standards Scheme said. Well-run corporate practices provided and they audited their veterinary skills and a clean, well-equipped environment, which ensured that CPD was up-to-date. For clients, had regular health and safety audits; they they provided a range of pricing options and
Downloaded from http://veterinaryrecord.bmj.com/ on November 18, 2017 - Published by group.bmj.com
News & Reports gave full invoice breakdowns, while for their staff, they provided training from the very basics through to specialism. Mr Mowlem added that, given the well documented drop-off that took place in the profession, with people leaving after a few years, motivating vets was important. Vets should be rewarded, and this was not just in regards to pay. Non-financial rewards could include providing new equipment to increase skills, CPD tailored to the individual, ensuring professional development and incorporating flexible working. Of course, financial rewards were important, too, he said, and these could involve using an annual review and reflecting the individual’s performance in their pay, having a clear career progression and a pay scale that reflected this, and rewarding teams that increased turnover or profitability. However, he warned that there were some schemes, such as individual turnover-related pay, targeting sales of individual clinical items or setting quotas, that should be avoided as they might make an individual feel compelled to compromise their professional standards.
Teaching professionalism
Discussing professionalism from the education perspective, Liz Mossop, associate professor of veterinary education at the
University of Nottingham, explained that the move to being a professional was a challenging rite of passage that every graduate had go through, but that the veterinary schools aimed to prepare students for this. Professionals had a unique body of knowledge, were self regulating and had both a social contract and ethical principles. Altruism, dutifulness and respect were all associated with professionalism, and these were instilled in students from day one. Professionalism tended to be mentioned if something went wrong – things were described as ‘unprofessional’. But there was debate about whether professionalism should be defined at all. Dr Mossop believed that it should be because students needed to know how to behave and needed professional standards. There were different commitments that vets had to manage, whether to animals, practice, clients or society. The challenge came in balancing these commitments, which could affect professionalism itself. Learning professionalism was very much a progressive development and potential students had to show some knowledge of the profession and some professional attributes that could be later developed. ‘The best predictor of future behaviour is past behaviour,’ she said. Role models played a key part in training
and developing professionals, and these could be lecturers, colleagues and EMS providers. Students were influenced by these role models and they helped with the formation of a professional identity. Concluding, Dr Mossop noted that there was a strong emphasis on professionalism in veterinary education, albeit that it was hard to define and there were challenges in how to teach it. How should the profession face up to current challenges? Professionalism was certainly not dead, but, she said, ‘we must work together to keep it alive’.
Too much emphasis?
In the debate that followed, comments were made to the effect that too much emphasis was being put on professionalism. Robin Hargreaves, a practitioner and past-president of the BVA, highlighted this by noting that many new graduates were so caught up with how they were acting, that it was impacting their ability to work. He commented that he had never worried about his own professionalism; it was a ‘fundamental principle of honesty and consistency’, he said. Professionalism was just a mix of human behaviour, empathy, compassion, compromise, and so on. In his eyes, this should be taught early on and then left to develop. doi: 10.1136/vr.h6313
November 28, 2015 | Veterinary Record | 537
Downloaded from http://veterinaryrecord.bmj.com/ on November 18, 2017 - Published by group.bmj.com
Is professionalism dead?
Veterinary Record 2015 177: 536-537
doi: 10.1136/vr.h6313 Updated information and services can be found at: http://veterinaryrecord.bmj.com/content/177/21/536.1
These include:
Email alerting service
Receive free email alerts when new articles cite this article. Sign up in the box at the top right corner of the online article.
Notes
To request permissions go to: http://group.bmj.com/group/rights-licensing/permissions To order reprints go to: http://journals.bmj.com/cgi/reprintform To subscribe to BMJ go to: http://group.bmj.com/subscribe/
News & Reports bva congress
Is professionalism dead? What is meant by professionalism and how relevant is it in today’s consumer-driven society? This was one of the topics discussed at this year’s BVA Congress at the London Vet Show. Georgina Mills reports
‘It is quite hard to define, as a professional working in practice, what professionalism actually means, and how this squares up with commercialism and profit,’ said Tom Mowlem, a practice director with Vets4Pets, as he opened the debate at the BVA Congress on November 20. There were many words that were associated with professionalism, such as ethics, behaviour, altruism and values, but what did this mean for vets? On the whole, he said, there had been an ‘erosion of trust’ from the general public towards all professions. The respect and trust that the public once had for professionals seemed to have waned; however, veterinary surgeons were still quite highly regarded. The increasing number of corporateowned veterinary practices had been seen to be a threat to the role of the vet
536 | Veterinary Record | November 28, 2015
in society, and there was a worry that the profession might turn into a service industry by commoditising the profession. ‘The reality is,’ said Mr Mowlem, ‘that, irrespective of the ownership model, all veterinary businesses need to earn a profit Liz Mossop and Tom Mowlem, who discussed changing attitudes to professionalism at the BVA Congress at the London Vet Show to survive.’ Corporate practices might have formalised this process, but this should not had professional standards of dress and make a difference to how the practice was uniform; and they provided up-to-date run. health information for clients via all media In many ways, the corporate model was sources. Corporate practices had been active improving veterinary professionalism, he in the RCVS Practice Standards Scheme said. Well-run corporate practices provided and they audited their veterinary skills and a clean, well-equipped environment, which ensured that CPD was up-to-date. For clients, had regular health and safety audits; they they provided a range of pricing options and
Downloaded from http://veterinaryrecord.bmj.com/ on November 18, 2017 - Published by group.bmj.com
News & Reports gave full invoice breakdowns, while for their staff, they provided training from the very basics through to specialism. Mr Mowlem added that, given the well documented drop-off that took place in the profession, with people leaving after a few years, motivating vets was important. Vets should be rewarded, and this was not just in regards to pay. Non-financial rewards could include providing new equipment to increase skills, CPD tailored to the individual, ensuring professional development and incorporating flexible working. Of course, financial rewards were important, too, he said, and these could involve using an annual review and reflecting the individual’s performance in their pay, having a clear career progression and a pay scale that reflected this, and rewarding teams that increased turnover or profitability. However, he warned that there were some schemes, such as individual turnover-related pay, targeting sales of individual clinical items or setting quotas, that should be avoided as they might make an individual feel compelled to compromise their professional standards.
Teaching professionalism
Discussing professionalism from the education perspective, Liz Mossop, associate professor of veterinary education at the
University of Nottingham, explained that the move to being a professional was a challenging rite of passage that every graduate had go through, but that the veterinary schools aimed to prepare students for this. Professionals had a unique body of knowledge, were self regulating and had both a social contract and ethical principles. Altruism, dutifulness and respect were all associated with professionalism, and these were instilled in students from day one. Professionalism tended to be mentioned if something went wrong – things were described as ‘unprofessional’. But there was debate about whether professionalism should be defined at all. Dr Mossop believed that it should be because students needed to know how to behave and needed professional standards. There were different commitments that vets had to manage, whether to animals, practice, clients or society. The challenge came in balancing these commitments, which could affect professionalism itself. Learning professionalism was very much a progressive development and potential students had to show some knowledge of the profession and some professional attributes that could be later developed. ‘The best predictor of future behaviour is past behaviour,’ she said. Role models played a key part in training
and developing professionals, and these could be lecturers, colleagues and EMS providers. Students were influenced by these role models and they helped with the formation of a professional identity. Concluding, Dr Mossop noted that there was a strong emphasis on professionalism in veterinary education, albeit that it was hard to define and there were challenges in how to teach it. How should the profession face up to current challenges? Professionalism was certainly not dead, but, she said, ‘we must work together to keep it alive’.
Too much emphasis?
In the debate that followed, comments were made to the effect that too much emphasis was being put on professionalism. Robin Hargreaves, a practitioner and past-president of the BVA, highlighted this by noting that many new graduates were so caught up with how they were acting, that it was impacting their ability to work. He commented that he had never worried about his own professionalism; it was a ‘fundamental principle of honesty and consistency’, he said. Professionalism was just a mix of human behaviour, empathy, compassion, compromise, and so on. In his eyes, this should be taught early on and then left to develop. doi: 10.1136/vr.h6313
November 28, 2015 | Veterinary Record | 537
Downloaded from http://veterinaryrecord.bmj.com/ on November 18, 2017 - Published by group.bmj.com
Is professionalism dead?
Veterinary Record 2015 177: 536-537
doi: 10.1136/vr.h6313 Updated information and services can be found at: http://veterinaryrecord.bmj.com/content/177/21/536.1
These include:
Email alerting service
Receive free email alerts when new articles cite this article. Sign up in the box at the top right corner of the online article.
Notes
To request permissions go to: http://group.bmj.com/group/rights-licensing/permissions To order reprints go to: http://journals.bmj.com/cgi/reprintform To subscribe to BMJ go to: http://group.bmj.com/subscribe/
