Does professional citizenship resonate with you?

I believe we all have a responsibility to contribute to the wider community, whatever our skills may be. I don't entirely understand the need for this to be 'professional' - everyone has a unique set of skills that can benefit others, regardless of what their career is. The suggestion that just because we are 'professionals' we have a higher level of responsibility as a citizen or are somehow able to contribute mote than others is a little self-aggrandizing, in my opinion.

While I believe we all have a level of social responsibility, how we choose to exercise that is up to us. Perhaps we can indeed use our professional skills to assist in the wider community, or perhaps we choose to be of benefit in other ways such as charity work, coaching a local sports team etc and leave our work behind at the office.

My fiance is a Doctor, and although he is always polite and attempts to help anyone who asks, the amount of people who think it is perfectly acceptable to discuss their intimate medical issues with him in social situations is ridiculous, putting him in a difficult position every time because he doesn't want to compromise his professional integrity by providing advice without proper examination or access to medical records. But if he were to refuse to engage with them entirely, they would no doubt think him extremely rude and somehow failing in his role as a Doctor. Of course, he would always assist in a genuine medical emergency.

I therefore think there is a dangerous precedent in sending out a message that a professional should be expected to carry forward their expertise outside of the working environment. If someone wishes, and is able, to do so, then that's one thing, but I don't think there should be an expectation to do so. There are plenty of ways, regardless of profession, that every individual can contribute to society, and how they choose to do so should be entirely up to them.

I believe we all have a responsibility to contribute to the wider community, whatever our skills may be. I don't entirely understand the need for this to be 'professional' - everyone has a unique set of skills that can benefit others, regardless of what their career is. The suggestion that just because we are 'professionals' we have a higher level of responsibility as a citizen or are somehow able to contribute mote than others is a little self-aggrandizing, in my opinion.

While I believe we all have a level of social responsibility, how we choose to exercise that is up to us. Perhaps we can indeed use our professional skills to assist in the wider community, or perhaps we choose to be of benefit in other ways such as charity work, coaching a local sports team etc and leave our work behind at the office.

My fiance is a Doctor, and although he is always polite and attempts to help anyone who asks, the amount of people who think it is perfectly acceptable to discuss their intimate medical issues with him in social situations is ridiculous, putting him in a difficult position every time because he doesn't want to compromise his professional integrity by providing advice without proper examination or access to medical records. But if he were to refuse to engage with them entirely, they would no doubt think him extremely rude and somehow failing in his role as a Doctor. Of course, he would always assist in a genuine medical emergency.

I therefore think there is a dangerous precedent in sending out a message that a professional should be expected to carry forward their expertise outside of the working environment. If someone wishes, and is able, to do so, then that's one thing, but I don't think there should be an expectation to do so. There are plenty of ways, regardless of profession, that every individual can contribute to society, and how they choose to do so should be entirely up to them.