Professionalism in Medical Education- Perspectives of Medical Students and Faculty

This article was migrated. The article was not marked as recommended. BackgroundAddressing professionalism in medical education is challenging. Increasing attention has been focused on developing professionalism in medical school graduates. The culture of faculty and the behaviors of medical graduates are often incongruent with professionalism.ObjectiveTo assess awareness of medical students and faculty about professionalism and suggest strategies for developing professionalism.MethodsValidated questionnaire about professionalism was used. Medical students (n=57) and Faculty (n=50) attending Faculty of Medicine (FOM) King Fahad Medical City Riyadh were included in study.ResultsAmong personnel characteristics, the most highly ranked items were honesty (faculty: 47(94%); students: 35(61.4%) adhering to ethics (faculty: 42(84%); students: 36(63.2%), and reliability in patient care (faculty: 42(84%); students: 35(61.4%).For the interaction with patients category, in highly ranked item was respect for patient (faculty: 44(88%); students: 38(66.7%).Regarding social responsibility, for students highly ranked items was improving access to health care (student: 31(54.4%) whereas faculty designated improving access to health care (faculty 31(62%) more important. With respect to strategies to improve professionalism, the highest ranked strategy across faculty was including in evaluation 29 (58%), while in students individual mentoring 28 (49.1%) was highly ranked strategy for developing professionalism.ConclusionThe difference in attitudes towards professionalism among students and faculty suggests unification of vision of both. Including in evaluation is better strategy for developing professionalism.