Medical professionalism: the trainees’ views

Abstract

-Medical professionalism is deeply embedded in medical practice in the UK but, with changes in the modern healthcare climate, its nature and role have been increasingly challenged. The Royal College of Physicians (RCP) therefore convened a working party to consider the concept of medical professionalism, to clarify its value and purpose, and to define it. As part of this project, the RCP Trainees Committee was commissioned to survey trainees to obtain their views on the matter. A questionnaire was sent to 19,190 medical and surgical trainees, and 4,576 medical students; 2,175 responses were received. The results were clear. Junior doctors and medical students see medicine as a profession which is learnt through apprenticeship and defined by responsibility towards patients, and which requires qualities such as altruism and humility. They believe that professionalism maintains and improves patient care; that standards of care should be defined and regulated by the profession; and that training should be directed by the profession. Furthermore, the overwhelming majority think that a reduction in medical professionalism would lead to people leaving the profession. KEY WORDS: junior doctors, medical professionalism, medical students, survey, training grade doctors IntroductionProfessionalism has for a long time been considered an intrinsic part of the practice of medicine, but with changes in the doctor-patient relationship, and more globally in the way medical care is delivered, the nature and role of medical professionalism has been increasingly questioned. Self-doubt has not been restricted to the profession of medicine; evidence points to the erosion of trust in all professions. 1 The other traditional professions, of law and the Church, have also increasingly questioned their role in society. 2 The debate about professionalism is not a new one; sociology literature has included much discussion of the subject since the 1970s, when there were particularly savage attacks on the concepts of professionalism. 3 Professionals were seen as elitist, class biased and keen to maximise their personal profits. Indeed, these were some of the accusations levelled against clinical psychologists when they sought to achieve professional status in the 1950s. 4 Perhaps the mood was best summed up by George Bernard Shaw's statement that 'Every profession is a conspiracy against the laity' .It was sociologists who first attempted to define the characteristics of a profession. 5 By examining these, the potential threats that face all the professions in the twenty-first century can be put into context. The first characteristic is the possession of a specialised body of knowledge. With the information technology revolution and the increasing influence of the Internet on people's lives, the medical profession in particular can no longer claim to have exclusive knowledge. The second characteristic is dedication to public service. This demands that the profession put the good of society before its own. This has looked increasingly...

Medical student teaching in the UK: how well are newly qualified doctors prepared for their role caring for patients with cancer in hospital?

“…The response rate in this study (43%) compares reasonably well to similar surveys of junior doctors in the UK, which have response rates from 9% through 33 to 66% (Goldacre et al, 2003;Roddy et al, 2004;Chard et al, 2006). The response rate of 66% was achieved by mailing questionnaires directly to doctors' home addresses as listed on the GMC register and sending four reminders, but this method can no longer be used because the release of doctors' addresses for research purposes is now prohibited by the Data Protection Act (Queen's Printer of Acts of Parliament, 1998).…”

Medical professionalism: Development and validation of the Arabian LAMPS

“…A number of studies reported the attitudes on professionalism among students (Szauter & Turner 2001;Tsai et al 2007), residents (Chard et al 2006;Ephgrave et al 2006), faculty members (Quaintance et al 2008;Hur 2009), patients (Davis et al 2007;Wiggins et al 2009), and the public at large (Chandratilake et al 2010).…”

“…Their personal standards and ethics are driven from past exposure to family, teachers, friends, and other social contacts (Nath et al 2006). Exploring students' attitudes has been used widely to measure different components of professionalism and related areas in the Western context (Chard et al 2006;Blackall et al 2007;Finn et al 2010), South-Asian context (Tsai et al 2007;Hur 2009), and Turkish context (Sehiralti et al 2010), but unfortunately, none has been validated and contextualized to be used in the Arabian context. By Arabian context, we mean the culture, traditions, beliefs, and behaviors that are being practiced by nations of Arabian countries in the Middle-East, where Arabic is the official language and Islam is the religion of the majority of the population.…”

Perceptions of clinical leadership amongst West Midlands registrars

“…Limitations of this study, includes the use of a non-validated questionnaire (as none exist in relation to addressing the core aspects of the MLCF) and the study's response rate (11.6 per cent). Response rates for similar studies relating to junior doctor surveys have ranged from 9 to 66 per cent (Chard et al, 2006;Goldacre et al, 2003). The difficulties lay in this not being a recognised deanery study and the initial difficulties in accessing the trainees and being reliant on multiple parties in distributing the e-mail with the survey link.…”