Professionalism & Medical Students

Professionalism:

How it can boost your career?

Ahmed Adel Sharf AlDin |

Medical Student |

MFM-SRP Executive Director |

Who thinks

that he is a

professional

medical

student ? ? ?

What is professionalism ? ? ?

What is professionalism ? ? ?

Embraces a set of attitudes, skills and behaviors,

attributes and values which are expected from

those to whom society has extended the privilege

of being considered a Professional.

What is professionalism ? ? ?

All definitions Include elements:

nowledge and skills.

he highest standards of ethical

and professional behavior.

social (moral) contract

(a fiduciary relationship).

AND NOW ???

Who thinks that he is a professional medical student

? ? ?

What is professionalism ? ? ?

All definitions Include elements:

nowledge and skills.

he highest standards of ethical

and professional behavior.

social (moral) contract

(a fiduciary relationship).

Knowledge

Ethics

Doctor-Patient Relationship

The term "professionalism" encompasses a reaffirmation of the values and behaviors of physicians.

The concept of professionalism first emerged in the early 1990’s in the United States as a response to the many challenges facing the health care system. Managed largely by independent Health Maintenance Organizations, HMOs, the provision of health care had increasingly become a business. As a result of this for-profit health care market, the very core of medicine was felt to be eroding. Evolving trends in medical care favored cost-effectiveness and efficacy and, as expected, had adversely affected certain aspects of the medical profession. The term "professionalism" arose out of the desire to reaffirm humanistic qualities, qualities such as compassion and altruism, back into the medical world. As such, professionalism developed out of the necessity to reinforce sound ethical principles within the medical community.

In the United States, the American Board of Internal Medicine (2) and the American Association of Medical Colleges (1) developed documents asserting that the values of the medical profession, including humanistic values, needed to be taught to medical students and residents in training.

By the mid 1990's, the concept of "professionalism" began to surface in medical schools across Canada and the United States. The importance of including professionalism in the curriculum became increasingly apparent in light of the challenges facing medical education (such as the increasing diversity of the medical student population) and health care in general. Although the term "professionalism" seems to have emerged out of the dichotomy between private HMOs and the millions of uninsured Americans, the ideals of professionalism have existed for centuries.

An extensive literature has accompanied this increased emphasis on Professionalism in the United States, Canada, Great Britain, Australia and elsewhere. How to 'teach' and evaluate Professionalism has become a topic of extensive interest within medical education conferences.

The Core Values of Professionalism

Honesty and Integrity

Altruism

RespectResponsibility

and Accountability

Compassion and Empathy

Dedication and Self-

improvement

Dedication and Self-improvement

Honesty and Integrity

Altruism

Respect

Responsibility and Accountability

Compassion and Empathy

Professionalism & Medicine

Professionalism embodies the relationship between medicine and society as it forms the

basis of patient-physician trust.

A physician is Healer

Professional

Professionalism & Medical Students

"The hardest conviction to get into the mind of a beginner is that the education upon

which [he/she] is engaged is not a college course, not a medieval course, but a life

course, for which the work of a few years under teachers is but a preparation." [Osler, (5)]

It is a COMMON SENSE!

As medical students, understanding the values and attributes expected of physicians will

remain most imperative throughout one’s career. Caring for patients that are ill demands

compassion, competence, and sound ethical values, and there is no better time to foster

the values of the medical profession than the beginning of the journey.

Commitments as a medical student

Respect for professors, preceptors, and peers

Respect for guest speakers and visiting patients

Respect for cadavers and anatomical specimens in the anatomy lab

Respect for the institution of which you are a part

Respect for patients and their families at clinical encounters

Respect for patient confidentiality

Respect for all members of the health care team

Respect for administrative and support staff

Respect for the core values of professionalism

Is it

really

that

? ? ?

As noted by Sir William Osler, it takes

time, effort, and dedication to live

according to an ideal: this is perhaps the

single most important obligation

medical students have to both society

and to the profession.

But ! ! !

You will have a great outcome.

A professional Student who will be a professional Doctor!

References.

1. American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM). Project Professionalism <http://www.abim.org/pdf/profess.pdf>. Accessed 2 Aug 2007.

2. Cruess SR, Cruess RL. Professionalism: A contract between medicine and society. CMAJ. 2000;162:673-675.

3. Cruess SR. Professionalism and medicine’s social contract with society. Clin Orthop Relat Res. 2006;449:170-176.

4. Lawrence W. Is our level of professionalism where it should be? Bull Am Coll Surg. 2004;89(6):21-25.

5. Roland CG, ed. Sir William Osler 1849-1919: A selection for medical students. Toronto, Canada: The Hannah Institute for the History of Medicine; 1982.

6. Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada. The 2005 CanMEDS Physician Competency Framework < http://www.royalcollege.ca/portal/page/portal/rc/common/documents/ canmeds/resources/publications/framework_full_e.pdf >. Accessed July 2007.

7. Silverman ME, Murray TJ, Bryan CS, eds. The Quotable Osler. Philadelphia: American College of Physicians; 2003.

8. Swick HM. Toward a normative definition of medical professionalism. Acad Med. 2000;75:612-616.

9. Taber’s Cyclopedic Medical Dictionary. Ethics <http://www.tabers.com/tabersonline/ub/view/Tabers/143340/46/ethics?q=Ethics >. Accessed 1 Aug 2007.

10. The Association of Faculties of Medicine of Canada. The Healer and the Professional in Society, Drs Richard and Sylvia Cruess<http://www.afmc.ca/pdf/2006_may_01_hart_award.ppt>. Accessed July 2007.

11. UOttawa Faculty of Medicine. Medical Professionalism: Summary Report of the Professionalism Review Committee. December 2006.

12. World Health Organization (WHO). Interfaces between bioethics and the empirical social sciences <http://www.paho.org/English/BIO/interfaces.pdf>. Accessed 1 Aug 2007.