Medical professionalism in Korea: a sociological view

Abstract

A profession is characterized by advanced theoretical and systematic knowledge, which can provide that profession with autonomy and authority. This paper examines the factors affecting the realization of complete professional autonomy such as the market and capital, patients, and the state. The primary factor of weak autonomy is due to the undifferentiated interests of professionalism from the influence of capital. The second factor is the ineffective system of selfregulation over physician behavior. The third factor is the underdevelopment of medical values, which could override the current conflicts between physicians and the state.

The challenges of medical education in developing “true medical professionalism”

“…Some doctors are committed to the ideas of medical consumerism, to the technical capacity to meet consumer needs, and to business as a business, not as a calling. Even university hospitals, which we thought would be honest (and believed to live with pride), exclude the morality of clinical judgment, and induce many prescription of doctors [ 2 ].…”