Professional Values and Ethics in Medical Education

Abstract

Medical ethics, professionalism and values have been commonly attached to medicine since its ancient era. These terms, although they differ, have been used in medical literature to refer to the right way to do the right thing by medical professionals. Professionalism was and still is one of the major aims of medical education. It refers to a complex process by which medical professionals acquire and apply the essential knowledge and skills together with acceptable values and ethics to serve society. However, teaching and assessing professionalism is not a straightforward mission. The complexity of it comes from its real nature being affected by many factors in multiple dimensions, including individual, interindividual and the larger societal or institutional levels. In this chapter, I describe the interaction between these factors after shedding light on the different interrelated terms. I also highlighted the advances and recommendations regarding teaching and assessment of professional values in the field of medicine.