Clinical faculty membersُ attitude toward Medical Professionalism: A case study of Tehran University of Medical Sciences

Abstract

Introduction: The faculty members' attitude toward professionalism has a significant impact on conveying professional values to learners. The aim of this study was to assess the professional attitudes of the clinical faculty members of medical school in TUMS. Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 134 clinical faculty members of Tehran University of Medical Sciences using stratified sampling from different clinical departments were participated in 2017. The research tool was a 21-item questionnaire designed to assess the physicians' attitude about professionalism which was developed and validated by experts. The data were analyzed Using Kruskal Wallis and Pearson correlation coefficient through SPSS. Results: The average score of the participants' professional attitude was 69.96 out of 100 with standard deviation of 9.5. The highest average of the positive attitude was 94.05 out of 100 for the issues of receiving commission for referral to the colleague and receiving consultation from the colleague and the lowest average of attitude was 28.57 out of 100 for the Team working collaboration of the physician and nurse, the patient's duty to participate in medical education in the academic hospital, spending enough time for listening to the patient's concerns and the doctor's right to choose his/ her patient. Professional attitude score was significantly higher in the psychiatric group in comparison with urology (p=0.046), surgery (p=0.002), Gynaecology (p<0.001) orthopedic (p=0.003) and internal medicine (p<0.001). Conclusion: According to the findings, professional attitude of faculty members is far from ideal. Their highest positive attitudes were about excellence, honesty, integrity and respect while their highest negative attitudes were regarding altruism and duty. It is suggested that re-trining programs focused on medical professionalism, continuously in transferring attitudes, with more emphasis on the principle of altruism and responsibility for the empowerment of clinical faculty members in medical schools should be considered.

The Localization, development and validation of a survey instrument to assess attitudes toward professionalism based on the opinions of clinical teachers

“…On the other hand, the t indices of the model were all within an acceptable range and con rmed the t and standardization of the model, it should be noted, that because surveying the experts, the proposed reforms were done in several stages, the t was good in this stage. The results of Agha Mohammadi et al (2017) showed that the professional attitude of medical professors in the indicators of enrichment, honor and honesty and respect are at the highest level and respectively in the indicators related to altruism and duty are at the lowest level (9). In the aforementioned study dimension of enrichment was in the rst rank and also in the current study, the dimension of enrichment is similarly in the rst rank.…”

“…A study by Campbell et al (2007) on 3504 practicing physicians in internal medicine, family practice, pediatrics, surgery, anesthesiology, and cardiology, found that the highest average was related to management of con icts of interest (8). In a study by Agha Mohammadi et al by assessing the attitudes of clinicians towards professionalism, he showed that the professional attitude of medical professors towards the indicators of enrichment, honor, integrity and respect are ranked the highest and the indicators related to altruism and accountability are ranked at the lowest level (9).…”

Professionalism assessment of clinical teachers as a role model

“…The clinical education is one of the most important courses in forming the professional identity of learners who learn in the experiential learning cycle through observation, repetition and reflection 10 . The present results showed the clinical teachers obtained the highest scores in the domain of doctor-patient relationship [19][20][21] . Similar to our results, the findings of studies indicated the clinical teachers had a positive attitude to integrity and honesty toward patients more than other stakeholders did.…”

“…Similarly, the study findings of Garshasbi indicated after the doctor-self relationship domain, the interprofessional relationship domain achieved the lowest scores 14 . In this regard, the results of Aghamohammadi's study showed the attitude of clinical teach-ers towards the cooperation among physicians and nurses were reported in the lowest level 19 . Despite the development of interprofessional training and collaboration in educational systems, challenges such as hierarchical relationships, doctor centeredness, and interdisciplinary discrimination were key barriers to implement team-based care in the investigated context 27 .…”

“…The results of the Aghamohammadi's study indicated the attitude of clinical teachers towards the professionalism was far from the ideal level. They achieved the lowest scores in the domains of altruism and self-awareness 19 . This poses a serious threat to the training of virtue-oriented physicians and the dissemination of a culture based on professionalism in future.…”