Option #1 “Performance in the Professions” We think of performance as entertainment and art, but the fact is that people are performing throughout our social world. In professional situations, people play roles, present a carefully prepared image to others, say well-planned words, employ special props and costumes, and use space in a special way to achieve a desired effect on others. Looking at your own major area of study or career path, identify ways that people in your field perform. In a short written response (1000-1500 words) describe this performance by answering the following questions: 1) What roles are played and why? 2) Are their special clothes worn or particular props used? 3) Are some words or phrases “scripted” and why? 4) What spaces are set up to make an impression on the “audience”? 5) What is the overall desired effect of this professional performance?
Your written response must be 1000-1500 words in length and must be submitted through TURN IT IN. The deadline for extra credit work is indicated on the course schedule. Only on-time submissions will be graded. Technical difficulties are not acceptable excuses for late work.
Performance in the Professions
Art, especially performance plays an intimate role in the social world. Professionals such as doctors, nurses, and lawyers employ performance in their day to day activities. Each career path has a specific way in which the individuals involved should carry out themselves. In many of the professional situations, people play different roles and they present an image that has been carefully prepared to others, mostly their clientele. Additionally, there is the use of space in a particular way to achieve the desired effect, and the use of special gowning. Macneil (85) suggests that humanities should take an active role in medical education, especially to question the assumptions of the current biomedical model. Medics employ the use of performance on a day to day basis. People in the field have different roles to play, and each role has a specific costume and professional jargon that accompany it.
Some of the major roles in the medical sector include physicians, surgeons, therapists, nurses, dentist, and anesthetists among many others. The different roles in the field exist because of the complexity of provision of care to the patient. It is necessary to clearly define roles for each individual to perform to ensure a successful result in the treatment of conditions in which patients present with. Further, the human body is complex and it would be impossible for a single individual to learn about all its features and the conditions that affect each and every organ or body system. Performance in the medical field is important for situations like training new professionals. In a paper by Salam et al. (360), medical students were required to take up patient and provider roles during training, and the scenario was scripted to enhance the learning experience. Medical students often take part in depicting inpatients to enable them comprehend the needs of the real patients. Such performances are usually scripted and the students fully represent the real-world patient scenarios by being loud, acting upset, and being belligerent (Salam et al. 360). After these exercises, the learners can review and reflect on their performances to identify the areas that require improvement.
There is special clothing that is worn by professionals in the medical field. The most common is the white coat that is worn by nearly every professional involved in the care process of a patient (Davis & Kimble). The white coat is worn to serve various purposes. The white coat is mainly worn by the doctors as protective gear when handling patients. It was developed to prevent the spread of diseases from the patients to the doctors as they handle people affected by different infections. Additionally, it helps the patients in the hospital to distinguish the medical professionals from other workers so as to know who to approach in case they need help. The white medical apparel also serves to present the hospital environment as clean and sanitized. Another special clothing that is very common is the gloves that are used by people coming in direct contact with the body fluids of patients such as blood, saliva, wou, and cerebrospinal fluid. Also, the workers from different departments wear different uniforms for easy differentiation. In many of the hospitals, the doctors will wear a specific color of gown that is usually different from what the nurse will wear. Even in a surgery, the surgeon wears a different color of clothing from the anesthetist and the physician assistant.
The words and phrases used by people in the medical profession can be considered as scripted. The doctors use polite language that is mainly tailored to get confidential information from the patient (Archer). The correct diagnosis of a patient depends on the collection of information about the history of the condition that one is experiencing. Some of the diseases that patients present with can sometimes be affecting their physical appearance and this sometimes makes them have low self-esteem. As a result, many of the patients will sometime hide information from the medical practitioner because of fear. The words and phrases used by medical professionals are structured in such a manner that they make the patient to feel comfortable and to explain their situation. Doctors use polite language and phrase their sentences to assure the patient of confidentiality in handling their medical condition.
Spacing in the medical profession is similar to that of the field of entertainment and art. The arrangement of consultation rooms is done in such a manner that it looks friendly and makes the patients feel comfortable. The spacing of the room is very important to the reaction of the patients. If the room is too crowded, the patient might end up feeling uncomfortable in the environment and fail to give the correct information. On the other hand, if the room appears to be too big, the patient might also react in an undesirable way. Thus, to make an impression on the patient, the environment is set up with careful consideration of the spaces in a similar manner like is done in the presentation of art.
The overall desired effect of the professional performance in the medical field is to fulfill the needs of the patient. The doctors and nurses have to act in a particular way in the working environment to be able to get information from the patient. The main purpose of the professional standards that have been formulated for the field is to maintain the clinical competency of the field. The standards are important to the medical field because they guide how the clinical practice should be carried out as there are many people involved in the care process of the patient. Artistic practices in the medical field can offer a discursive space for evaluating the relationship between medicine and the society (Koski 3). The professional performance assists in the organization of health care especially in the development of safe staff practices, the delegation of duties to both licensed and unlicensed workers, and documentation of patient information among many others. It also guarantees that the professionals remain competent especially because they are accountable for all decision they make in the handling of the patient.
Overall, performance is not restricted to the fields of art and entertainment. Many people in different professions in the social world are performing to fit into their daily roles. The medical profession is one of the areas where the people involved have to perform on daily basis to satisfy the needs of the patient. Medics put on special clothing around the place of work which helps in their personal protection and also to connect with their patients who are the audience. The words used are well thought to ensure that it is polite and it can make the patients feel comfortable to give information necessary for making a diagnosis. The medical profession involves performance which is similar to that of careers in the art and entertainment field.