Assessment of Professionalism and Ethics among Final Year Part I Undergraduate Students of Kurnool Medical College, Kurnool, Andhra Pradesh

Background: Professionalism is a core competency of physicians. Erstwhile Medical Council of India envisioned competency-based medical education with Attitude, Ethics and Communication module as its forerunner. Objectives: The aim of this study was to objectively assess professionalism and ethics (P&E) by introducing multiple choice questions (MCQs) and Professionalism Mini-Evaluation Exercise (PMEX) as P&E assessment tools for MBBS students, by sensitizing the faculty and students. Materials and Methods: A mixed-method study was conducted during June to December 2019, among final MBBS part I undergraduate students, posted in the Department of Community Medicine, Kurnool Medical College, Kurnool. After obtaining IEC clearance and written informed consent from the study participants, a 3-day workshop on P&E was conducted with interactive teaching session on day 2, pretest on day 1, and posttest on day 3, in the form of five standardized patient interactions in OSCE stations rated using PMEX tool and five response stations for MCQs. Descriptive and inferential statistical analysis was done in IBM SPSS version 21.0 to see difference in pre- and posttest scores. Qualitative analysis using manual thematic coding was done to assess the perception of faculty and students. Results: A statistically significant difference in means was observed in pretest and posttest scores using PMEX tool (t test = −22.12, P value = 0.0001). 75% of students considered MCQs and PMEX as a feasible tool, out of a total of 29 study participants. Conclusion: MCQs and PMEX are effective tools to assess P&E among medical undergraduate students.