Implementing professionalism by deprofessionalized strategies: A moral quandary

Abstract

Monetary fine proceedings has been one of the methods of upholding professionalism amongst health care professionals. Professionalism as a concept is multifaceted and fragmented and it has become symbolic to the extent that, unfortunately, some traits of professionalism showcase the whole concept. It seems fair to interpret the symbolic views on the concept of professionalism as means to capitalize on certain aspects of professions such as commercial profitability for the employer and respected status for the profession. Evaluation of professionalism is often implicit and inadequate; and assessing professionalism by relying on abstract and idealized definitions implies that professionalism is a compounded composite of certain set of stable traits. We suggest to refer to the theory of values-based practice so as to achieve collocated views on professionalism among employers and health academics. Instead of capitalizing on certain traits of professionalism to project the whole concept of professionalism, we may need to relook at the traits of professionalism as values. It is extremely crucial to internalize the values of the health profession in the future health professionals, so that the future health professionals imbibe the professionalism through dialog and democratic methods of sharing values during the course of professional development.