The process of entering the nursing culture was relatively smooth for me, as it took place over a long period and imperceptibly influenced my behavioral patterns, way of thinking, and social interaction. The culture itself in the nursing profession is somewhat ephemeral and challenging to describe. Still, it is important to note several basic tenets and features that influence the acculturation process to a greater extent. First, a great deal of jargon is used by colleagues and more experienced professionals to refer to terms that are difficult to pronounce. Second, the job requires constant social interaction, both within the team and with patients, which makes a culture of leadership and mutual support very significant. Finally, the physician culture has much to do with high dedication, bordering on self-sacrifice and altruism. These cultural traits of the profession have gradually influenced my acculturation process, but at a very different pace for our newest team member.
My constant admiration accompanied the acculturation process into the medical profession for the specialty itself and its representatives. The idea of altruism and helping patients, observing those who needed support, and the respectful attitude of medical personnel toward their clients encouraged me. They gradually taught me the ethical and other principles of the profession. Enthusiasm distinguishes medical professionals from those in many other fields because the profession involves human lives and the doctor’s sincere desire to help people (Wu et al., 2022). Because these ideas and principles of thinking were close to me, my process of understanding them was pretty quick.
The culture of the medical profession implies hierarchical relationships at work and informal communication within the team. This peculiarity was tricky for me but easy for our new team member, who was used to a highly formalistic line of work. Organizational culture plays a significant role in the medical profession, influencing staff efficiency, motivation, and performance (Traczyńska & Kunecka, 2018). This organizational culture encourages flexibility of mind, constant improvement, and the need to learn from experience. My experience in the medical field was constantly associated with haste and the need to solve problems quickly. This culture of quick and efficient work that often exceeds norms is the norm in the profession, and it was challenging to get used to this feature. Demonstrating leadership skills and the ability to optimize colleagues’ work under constant time pressure added to the complexity of the profession, but both the new colleague and the entire previous team understood the need to adapt to such conditions. Therefore everyone made an effort to learn to communicate quickly and effectively.
Finally, the easiest part of adapting to a new line of work was learning new phrases and words from more experienced physicians. Their abundance was initially discouraging, but after prolonged practice, they became an integral part of the vocabulary of all team members. It created a new problem of recalling academic language in class or formal communication with colleagues, but this problem is gradually being resolved. The same experience was experienced by our new colleague, who had just encountered this problem.
Thus, the acculturation process in the medical profession has benefited my personality and productivity. Roughly similar experiences were shared by my other colleagues and more experienced professionals. However, there are some differences in how the process influenced our new team member and me. Besides, for the most part, the observations and challenges of entering a new culture were the same for all new nursing workers.
References
Traczyńska, K., & Kunecka, D. (2018). Organizational culture in nursing teams based on the example of a particular hospital. Progress in Health Sciences, 8, 46-54.
Wu, M. C., Chiang, W. J., Chiang, S. L., Trung, P. M., & Lindayani, L. (2022). A study on major factors revitalizing nursing staff’s work enthusiasm, a cross-national study on organizational culture, organizational empowerment and self-efficacy. International Journal of Healthcare Management, 1-11.