Professional Boundaries in Healthcare & Social Care
Having worked with hundreds of practitioners and support staff in the field of healthcare, and in a number of social care organisations, we are aware of the difficult situations that people can face on a daily basis. Most commonly…
Professionals who live in the community where they work, and are constantly under pressure to blur the boundaries when they meet patients or service users in a non-work context.
Doctors who are asked to bend the rules or favour friends and family members
Social Workers who grow close to clients and blur the lines between guiding them professionally and being emotionally invested in the relationship
The focus of empathy in the relationship with anyone you are working with should always be on the other person, so external to you and your emotions. The switch and warning signs should kick in when you are internalising or feeling emotional about what is occurring for the people you are working for professionally. That isn’t to say that you should be an emotionless robot performing your role, but noticing when you are feeling affected by what is happening for the other person means you can enforce and control your boundaries.
We’ve worked with doctors via their vocational training scheme (VTS) training days to discuss the topic with junior doctors plus a number of NHS Training hubs to bring the topic of Professional Boundaries to front line clinical and administrative staff.
We’ve also supported social workers to discuss the topic of professional boundaries and facilitated peer group coaching sessions to discuss and explore the topic of professional boundaries in social care. Each of the team firstly completed the introductory training prior to the group coaching.