Search Results

Individually defined and internalized meanings of competence evolve during years of clinical training, and the quest for competence is often marked by key struggles with moral content and personal consequences. Performance continues to be a central organizing theme. This chapter closes with a proposition that by the conclusion of the fourth year, students have learned a repertoire of ways to speak about and evaluate their own competence as well as that of their colleagues and seniors. Some are well on their way to developing a “professional moral voice” in which to express disagreements over patient care and to discuss treatment errors. Seeking a professional niche in which their abilities and professionally crafted selves are valued, students often choose residencies with an eye to what specialty would most enhance their sense of professional competence.

Various professions have created models with the theory in mind that the assessment of professional competency will enhance the quality assurance and conduct of professional practice. The effectiveness and implications of those models' professional competence whether as developmental, impermanent, or content specific are assessed in the field of psychometrics. Key factors include validity, feasibility, fidelity, and the specified use of the assessment itself. The Association of State and Provincial Psychology Boards (ASPPB), founded in 1961, functions as a licensure/registration assessment—the Examination for Professional Practice in Psychology (EPPP), whereas the works of International Test Commission provide a functional structure for developing and interpreting for use within and across nations. Methodological quantitative and qualitative examinations in other professions in assessing their competencies are cultural; its complexity derived by differences in recognition of functional and rudimentary competencies, in interaction of scope and practice in regions across the world, and in basic attitudes towards assessment.

This chapter discusses the dismissal of commissaire de police, the nightmare of révocation. The Revolutions of 1830 and 1848, bringing about a change in regime and, in the latter case, the Second Republic, also brought inevitable political purges. However, policemen also faced dismissal because they lacked professional competence, fell into disrepute for perceived moral failings (drunkenness, indebtedness, homosexuality, etc.). The risk of denunciations, anonymous and otherwise, is also considered.

All psychologists, including forensic psychologists, must develop and maintain their professional competence to practice ethically and in a manner consistent with professional practice standards. In this chapter, professional competence is defined and explored, and considerations relating to the development and maintenance of professional competence throughout a psychologist’s career are discussed. Because of the specialized nature of forensic practice, , the need to develop substantive legal knowledge and knowledge of the empirical psychological, medical, and professional literature is highlighted. Additional practical considereations for the ethical practice of forensic psychology, such as representing one’s professional competencies and advertising to the public, are also considered.

Formal competencies are prescribed at all levels of training in an attempt to improve patient safety. Competencies often fail to scratch the surface of true professionalism. Ultimately, competence is the responsibility of the individual doctor. This chapter discusses the three pillars competence: knowledge, skills, and wisdom.

Over the past ten years, the European Federation of Psychologists Association (EFPA) has strengthened psychology educational training, professional qualifications, professional ethics and regulations, and legal standards, in collaboration with the European Union (EU), to develop quasi-legislation at the European level. The two organizations help coordinate specific qualifications in the academe system for entry level psychologists which were accepted by EFPA in 2005. The EuroPsy system, even given the tensions based on the level of qualification and the contexts of professional practice, functions to provide a means of credentialing for individual psychologists upon completion of academic and training curriculum (six years), has exhibited professional competence under supervised practice, and is endorsed by European ethical standards for psychologists. Europe has strong regional mechanisms for psychologist accountability, which provide surpassing challenges for university qualifications and professional licensing, ethics and ethical integrity, and EuroPsy requirements.

This chapter outlines Richard Blechynden's efforts to provide his sons with employment. It was necessitated by his growing family and responsibilities. To add to that, Richard's businesses also encountered difficulties. The discussion records his use of influence to secure a job for Arthur to a position to suit his business interests. In such efforts, one can see a major example of his paternal ambition and his concern with his children's immediate and future well-being, but also their character. This chapter also considers Blechynden's professional competence and moral turpitude.

In Chapter 22, the author discusses his career as a physician in general practice. He describes an especially harrowing experience accompanying a patient on a helicopter ride to the hospital with severe wounds that suddenly stopped breathing. The lessons learned from his career are both practical and theoretical. A practical lesson is the need to train rural physicians and staff in the skills and issues of transferring sick patients. The author also discusses self-criticism limitations and the need to accept one’s limitations and try to learn from mistakes.

This chapter is written by two independent consultants who work with nonprofit groups. The authors discuss how they moved into this field following extensive work in other organizations. They also discuss the needs of nonprofit organizations, the kinds of services the authors provide as consultants, the personal and professional skills they find most valuable in their work with nonprofits, and the advantages and disadvantages for community psychologists doing this type of work.