StudentShare
Contact Us
Sign In / Sign Up for FREE
Search
Go to advanced search...

The Struggle by Allied Health Practitioners to Achieve Professional Status - Assignment Example

Cite this document
Summary
The Struggle by Allied Health Practitioners to Achieve Professional Status Issue Description Status or professional standing is defined by the society as an individual who has acquired high educational standing, a result of proper and well-planned marketing strategy and other aspects that are considered as societal values…
Download full paper File format: .doc, available for editing
GRAB THE BEST PAPER98.4% of users find it useful
The Struggle by Allied Health Practitioners to Achieve Professional Status
Read Text Preview

Extract of sample "The Struggle by Allied Health Practitioners to Achieve Professional Status"

Download file to see previous pages

According to the Services for Australian Rural and Remote Allied Health [SARRAH] (2007), allied health practitioners are university trained professionals who use their skills in helping their clients regain their optimum individual functions. These allied health practitioners help in a patient’s recovery and aid in emergency care and treatment (Department of Health, 2010). There are a variety of allied professionals that include dietitians, osteopaths, occupational therapists, podiatrists and audiologists (Johnson & Graham, 2005).

Even with their importance in the field of health care, a study (Borthwick, Nancarrow, Vernon, & Walker, 2009) showed that allied health practitioners tend to experience frequent job burnout, have lower self-esteem, and recruitment and retention problems compared to other healthcare practitioners in the UK and Australia. These problems then contribute to the fact that allied health practitioners perceive themselves as having lesser professional standing in the society and in the healthcare field (Borthwick, Nancarrow, Vernon, & Walker, 2009).

Theoretical Perspective Symbolic interactionism is a sociological theory that centers on the manner of interaction of individuals through different symbols. These symbols are depicted in society through roles, regulations, words, and visual communication (Plunkett, n.d.). Interactionist theorists are focused on the people and not the society. They consider humans as actors in a play who can adjust to every scene because of their capability to interpret symbols. In this manner, human beings or an individual understand actions as symbols and perceive other people as symbolic objects (McClelland, 2000).

The symbolic interactionism perspective defines the allied health and nursing profession as a “dirty work.” It is “dirty” in a manner wherein the work is viewed with low regard, as difficult, and unpleasant. However, these jobs are necessary to fulfill the basic human life activities (Drew, 2007). In comparison to the so-called high-rank professionals in the healthcare industry, these jobs are considered “dirty” because these professionals come in great contact with elderly patients and patients who demand lesser technological skills in recovery (Drew, 2007).

On the other hand, with the help of symbolic interactionism, the struggle of allied health practitioners to achieve professional status can be understood with the “The Looking Glass Self.” This is in accordance to the concept of Cooley that people react and interact in the manner of how people appear to them. Therefore, because people or the society impose the perception that allied health practitioners have lesser standing in society, which is shown in roles, regulations, words and visual communication, they then tend to look at themselves as what the society perceives them to be (Morine, 2009).

It can then be derived that the struggle of these allied health practitioners is against the status inflicted by the society on them. To be able to achieve professional status these allied health practitioners are struggling for, it is then advised for them to acquire related skills, which will enhance their current field of specialization. This will add to their current status, which will be a door to the enhancement of their professional status in the society. They will also increase their range of patients, which

...Download file to see next pages Read More
Cite this document
  • APA
  • MLA
  • CHICAGO
(“The Struggle by Allied Health Practitioners to Achieve Professional Assignment”, n.d.)
Retrieved from https://studentshare.org/sociology/1454816-health-issue-paper
(The Struggle by Allied Health Practitioners to Achieve Professional Assignment)
https://studentshare.org/sociology/1454816-health-issue-paper.
“The Struggle by Allied Health Practitioners to Achieve Professional Assignment”, n.d. https://studentshare.org/sociology/1454816-health-issue-paper.
  • Cited: 0 times

CHECK THESE SAMPLES OF The Struggle by Allied Health Practitioners to Achieve Professional Status

Main Concepts Underpinning the Social Model

Instead the ‘social model of disability can provide a more adequate basis for all kinds of professional involvement including that of medical intervention' (Oliver 1990).... Critically outline the main concepts underpinning the ‘social model' and contrast them to those informing the ‘medical model' of disability....
14 Pages (3500 words) Essay

Healthcare Learning Experiences: Enhancing the Patient Experience

35) theorised “to achieve best outcomes, patients must have a good understanding of the condition and should adopt a vigilant self-care approach.... hellip; The patient journey lessons enrich and prepare the nursing professional to successfully hurdle all future nursing healthcare obstacles, hastening the recuperation process.... Further, the patient journey experiences enrich the nurses' knowledge that the healthcare practitioners, especially the nurses, must...
9 Pages (2250 words) Essay

The Art in Freerunning and Parkour

With simple exercises, the physician realised that the formula to good health was generally very simple: aerobic movements provided oxygen and blood to the extremities as well as the inner organs of the body and these two substances are what is most required by any one person to remain in a healthy state....
16 Pages (4000 words) Coursework

The Importance of Nutrition in Wound Healing in Irish Hospitals

If this is the case of older or aged individual it becomes more complex, because biological progression accompanied by several socioeconomic issues has a great impact on nutritional status.... However, no direct relation has as yet been established between nutrition planning and length of hospital stay, in terms of impact that nutrition planning has on the health outcome of the patients.... Aging decreases food intake because of physiological decline in appetite followed by weight loss, anorexia and chronic or acute diseases, poor dental health, altered sense of smell and taste, achlorhydria and reduced physical activities....
19 Pages (4750 words) Research Proposal

ISSUES IN PROFESSIONAL NURSING PRACTICE

aking into the account the struggles made by Nightingale and the nurses of previous times to achieve professional autonomy and recognition, nurses of the contemporary nursing era must value their struggles by practicing and preserving professional autonomy at all times.... ssues in Professional Nursing Practice Throughout the history, nursing has been striving to gain a professional status and sense of autonomy.... In addition, nurses were often oppressed and salaries were not sufficient during the 1970s thus, nurses strive for economic stability and to the methods and ideals of science to gain professional recognition, equality, status, and rightful acceptance not only from the medical professions but also from the general public....
2 Pages (500 words) Assignment

Sport Psychology

This affects their ability to consistently participate in the sport and achieve their dreams and full potential, a situation that affects… Sports psychology is a discipline in psychology that studies the psychological factors that affects the attitude and performance of sportsmen and how injury and other physical conditions associated with their professional affects their mental and Sports injury is common in different sports and athletic events across the world and these affect the performance of the sports individuals....
12 Pages (3000 words) Essay

Community Health Framework and Intervention Plan

It is a population which requires ongoing mental health services.... The authors discuss how federal and state policy struggle to provide long-term care for this population.... This proposal deals with a public policy model for intervening with older adults with mental illnesses....
10 Pages (2500 words) Research Proposal

The Social Institutions

nbsp; Secondly, those who are sick need professional help to make themselves better.... nbsp; Lastly, those who are ill are expected to acquire professional treatment (Palgrave Macmillan, n.... Lastly, those who are sick are expected to acquire professional treatment (Palgrave Macmillan, n.... nbsp; According to Freidson (1970), contemporary medicine has defined health, illness, and treatment of such diseases....
9 Pages (2250 words) Case Study
sponsored ads
We use cookies to create the best experience for you. Keep on browsing if you are OK with that, or find out how to manage cookies.
Contact Us