Professional Practice – Introduction to Guidelines for Professional Practice
Introduction to Guidelines for Professional Practice
Into to Professional Practice Guidelines
This content area of the MBLEx focuses on safety for the client and the therapist. It also covers the business side of a massage therapy practice. The MBLEx content outline lists the topics covered in this area:
- Proper and safe use of equipment and supplies
- Therapist hygiene
- Sanitation and cleanliness
- Safety practices
- Facilities
- Therapist personal safety
- Client safety
- Therapist care
- Body mechanics to protect hands, back, etc.
- Protective gear (masks, gowns, gloves, etc.)
- Self-care & injury prevention
- Draping
- Safe and appropriate draping
- Communication
- Business practices
- Business & strategic planning
- Office management
- Marketing
- Hiring & interviewing
- Documentation and records (client & business records)
- Healthcare and business terminology
Professional Development
Being a professional in any field means continuously striving to be excellent in your chosen profession. This often includes continuous learning, which can come from many sources:
- Continuous education courses
- Reading and independent study
- Learning from colleagues and co-workers
Professionalism is defined as behaving and demonstrating conduct that is consistent with a professional standard. A professional massage therapist is distinguished from an amateur by their competence, conscientiousness, confidence, methods, communication, attitude and other professional characteristics. Professionalism is not the job you do, but how you do your job. It is also not how long you’ve done your job. A professional massage therapist who has been learning, growing and improving for 10 years is very different from a therapist who stopped growing and developing skills after 1 year. The former has 10 years of experience while the latter has 1 year of experience, repeated 10 times. Ways to develop and practice professionalism include:
- Provide excellent & effective massage treatments
- Continue building your competence and knowledge
- Communicate effectively with clients and co-workers
- Maintain a professional image
- Commit to being productive and managing your time efficiently
- Maintain a positive outlook and attitude
- Be proactive and solution-oriented
Continuing education is instruction that helps a professional keep their skills, knowledge and competence up to date, or advance their competency by acquiring new skills and knowledge.
- Provide effective and appropriate massage treatments.
- Continuing building competence and knowledge through continuing education.
- Practice effective communication skills