Challenges of educating for medical professionalism: who should step up to the line?

Abstract

Medical ethics educators are right to embrace the professionalism agenda on four conditions: that the limitations of addressing the formation of professional attributes in university-based teaching are recognised; that there is clinical as well as university-based evaluation of professional attributes; that the development of the VMP as a process of professional socialisation is seen as an interdisciplinary educational project, and that the examination and explanation of the cognitive grounds of the VMP are the focus of medical educators' activities.

Doctor role modelling in medical education: BEME Guide No. 27

“…As the teaching of professionalism is highly context dependent, doctor role modelling is potentially key to the development of high standards of professionalism in medical education (Passi et al 2010). This is important as there are currently no evidence based guidelines for the teaching of professionalism whilst there is much on-going debate worldwide regarding the most effective teaching methods in developing professionalism (Steinert et al 2005;Cohen 2006;Cruess & Cruess 2006;Brater 2007;Buyx et al 2008;Goldie 2008;Morrison 2008;Passi et al 2010). Similarly, there is currently no consensus amongst educators regarding the best method of assessing professionalism (Arnold 2002;Lynch et al 2004;Veloski et al 2005;Parker 2006;Jha et al 2007).…”

Education and moral respect for the medical student

“…Meanwhile, the ethical norms that we want to bring such physicians into closer contact with are, at their core, relatively uncontroversial: compassion, courage, honesty, and so on (Buyx, Maxwell, and Schöne-Seifert 2008;Marcum 2012;Pellegrino 1993), so there may be no great quandary as to which value sets should characterize the good physician. If our moral educational endpoint is clear, and explicit instruction in ethical values doesn't work, how do we move physicians away from dominant norms of professional culture to more ethical ones?…”

The overlapping spheres of medical professionalism and medical ethics: a conceptual inquiry

“…Such specialized educators would likely also be better equipped to address the conceptual confusions and practical conflicts that may arise from the conflation of ethics with professionalism. As Buyx, Maxwell, and Schöne-Seifert (2008) put it, 'medical ethics teaching staff often have axiological training and are thus better placed than their colleagues in other departments to coach students in tackling questions of values, morality and virtue' (760). In a recent study by Silverman et al (2012) on 'the self-perceived comfort level of medical students and residents in confronting clinical ethics issues' (55), the authors suggest that systematic, structured, and 'formal instruction within the context of real-world exposure to ethical dilemmas, might improve trainees' comfort levels when dealing with clinical ethics issues' (58).…”