The Importance of Having Good References
There are two kinds of references; patient or client reviews and references and citations for papers. In either case, references are becoming more and more respected. In this day and age of computers, mass news, advertising, and communications worldwide at lightning speeds, we need to rely on something. References given by others on our work or our performance is that something.
Personal References
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A medical pain specialist, Jordan Sudberg, who has done research at Harvard University knows about both kinds of references from both patient written and papers he has authored. A reference from a client is like gold to him. People give either extremely good references or extremely bad ones, seldom bothering with mediocre ones.
Medical doctors meet critical opinions from patients ready to find fault with their technique. People expect a doctor to do something, to help them. If he has poor ratings from patients, other patients will turn away. References will give him an idea of his weaknesses and strengths, and it will shine a light on any staff problems and provide information about weaknesses he may want to correct.
Business References
Jordan Sudberg, in his technical papers, needs to cite sources in his published work. Doing so will:
Establish professionalism
Establish honesty
Give his readers sources to follow up
Support his opinions and decisions
Give other points of view
fight plagiarism
Show he has done the proper research
References provide the trust with others. Trust measures our society. We trust a store will deliver goods we ordered, or will let us know when it will not be delivered. We trust physicians to deal with our medical problems, not just to the best of their ability but to solve our problems. We hurt, and we want the hurting to stop.
Before we shop at a store, we may look up reviews to see if we can expect good business, a long wait, inaccurate information, or poor services. Can we trust them? If they have bad reviews, their business might falter. People will read the reviews and pass the word. That poor review not only went to one person, but to all those that person will tell.
Constructive criticism can shine a light on problems that need correcting. Through the eyes of others, we see some changes that we need to correct. We see attitudes among our coworkers that need to be addressed.
Reviews and references help measure our character and values. Is staff on the wrong road, believing and delivering an errant message? We can catch it and correct the problem.
Conclusion
Studies currently conducted on professional references for the medical profession prove how influential those references can be. Bad references applied to medical students, including nurses, have a lot to do with their perceptions and beliefs.
At some time or other, every entity comes across an evil spell. Everything seems to go wrong. That is when a good review is appreciated. With good references, we can outlast the bad. That is when we can be proud of our work on some research that is now published.
