MSHT601- Assignment #1 : Duality in Professional Identity

Duality in Professional Identity

I was 16 years old when I decided that I wanted to be a physiotherapist. The profession was introduced to me by a counsellor working at my high school.  It spoke to me as soon as she said those two words: sports and medicine. I left the family house at 17 to pursue the necessary education to reach my ultimate goal. I worked hard in the program, I volunteered with the school’s sports team as a trainer and I had the urge to always push my own limits. My cousin, my role model, had joined the Canadian Army Forces a few years prior and had gone to the Royal Military College. I wanted to be like her but I wanted to be a physiotherapist more. When the recruiter told me I could have both, I felt like I had won the lottery. I have never since regretted my choice of profession and even less so to have chosen to practice physiotherapy with the Canadian Army Forces.

Working as a military physiotherapist for the Department of National Defense brings a duality to my professional identity: I am a physiotherapist and an officer. It comes with two sets of rules, duties and values to abide by.  Many of those values overlap, but my military professional conduct must supersede my own professional identity: this is what I signed up for. Fortunately, the five values described in the DND and CF Code of Values and Ethics (2012) resonate with my own. Integrity, loyalty, courage, stewardship and excellence have always been part of what I believe in. It is how I want to influence my colleagues and patients and live my life.

In chapter four of the book Creative Clinical Teaching in the Health Profession, the authors explain that applying our core values not only structures our professional identity but also increases our work satisfaction (Melrose, Park & Perry, 2015). When I reflect on my struggles and successes throughout my career, I can relate almost any event back to those five core values. 

My role within the Canadian Health Care system is quite limited: as a military physiotherapist, I care only for military members. I collaborate on occasion with specialists working in civilian hospitals and in the private sector but most of my daily interactions are with healthcare professionals, civilian and military, working in our Canadian Health Services Centers. 

  Although I am protected by the Crown at all times, I still need to register with a provincial licensing body, preferably in the province I practice in, which for me is the College of Physiotherapist of Ontario. My college is part of the 28 self-regulated health professional in Ontario which belong to the Federation of Health Regulatory Colleges of Ontario (Ontario Health Regulators, 2019). In our province, ‘’ physiotherapists are involved in determining the rules that govern the profession and are accountable for their own behavior, with the College providing assistance and oversight’’ (College of Physiotherapist of Ontario: About the College, n.d., para. 9). We have a duty to report any deviance to our college. This duty alone resonates with three of the values previously discussed: one must be courageous, honest and loyal to inform the College when a faulty practice is identified. 

My current professional identity has been shaped by deployments, moves, projects, coworkers and patients. It has evolved through years of practice. I am grateful that the values I adhere to kept me in line through those 13 years and I hope to continue helping others in the healthcare field find joy and fulfilment in their job. 

References

College of Physiotherapist of Ontario (n.d.). About the College. Retrieved from https://www.collegept.org/about/about-the-college

Melrose, S., Park, C. & Perry, B. (2015). Creative clinical teaching in the health professions. Retrieved from http://epub-fhd.athabascau.ca/clinical-teaching/

National Defence. (n.d.). Department of National Defence and Canadian Forces Code of Values and Ethics. Retrieved from https://www.canada.ca/en/department-national-defence/services/benefits-military/defence-ethics/policies-publications/code-value-ethics.htm

Ontario Health Regulators (n.d.). Find a healthcare professional. Retrieved from https://ontariohealthregulators.ca/find-health-care-professional/

Duality in Professional Identity: sometimes can co-exist nicely