The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 269 No 7217 p438-439
28 September 2002

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  CPD
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Letters to the Editor

Professionalism

Need for a strong set of core values

From Mr S. Rajani, MRPharmS

The highlights from Ian Caldwell's presentation to the International Pharmaceutical Congress (PJ, 21 September, p401) provide a useful summary of characteristics required to make a good professional.

I agree that identifying and appraising people's professional characteristics is a complex and difficult task. We often rely heavily on indirect and perceptual approaches. Therefore, many organisations are now using competency modelling¹ to assess required professional characteristics.

An approach to professional building, echoing Mr Caldwell, uses a two-dimensional plot of requirements, where one dimension is the importance of the requirement to the professional, and the other is the person's strength in that requirement relative to his or her peers. Gaps exist where a requirement is absolute, but where the person's position is one of inferiority to that of his or her peers. These displays show that continuous self-investment in professional characteristics is required over a long haul to build and sustain professionalism.

Finally, a person's professionalism may depend not only on his or her own characteristics but also on their organisational culture. This broadly relates to the values, traditions and social norms of the organisation. The development of professional characteristics may be best observed in organisations with a strong set of core professional values.²

Shane Rajani
London SW11

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