Why Pull the Arrow When You Cannot See the Target? Framing Professionalism Goals in Medical Education

Abstract

Professionalism is essential for a successful physician-patient relationship and widely acknowledged as an intrinsic and important component of medical education for learners at all levels, from medical school to residency to continuing medical education. The problem is defining the educational end points for learners and then determining how to assess these outcomes. This Invited Commentary focuses on what medical educators can and should do to refine the vision of professionalism in medical education. The authors propose a multistep process in which learners, educators, and the public are engaged in articulating clearly and definitively the end points of professionalism education.

Medical professionalism research characteristics and hotspots: a 10-year bibliometric analysis of publications from 2010 to 2019

“…Finally, whether it is nurturing and assessing professionalism, or addressing professionalism lapses, the purpose of professionalism research and development is to focus on the primacy of patients' welfare and to improve the quality of health care, both of which would be inseparable from physician competency and practice pattern (ABIM Foundation et al, 2002 ). In addition, maintaining high levels of professionalism and proactive communication are important to improving patient satisfaction, building good doctor-patient relationships, and maintaining doctor-patient trust (Doukas & Volpe, 2018 ; Petrocchi et al, 2019 ). This importance is affirmed by how Cluster 5 demonstrated the highest centrality and high inter-cluster correlations.…”

Minimal effects of reduced teaching hours on undergraduate medical student learning outcomes and course evaluations

“…Meanwhile, teaching staff often respond to competing curricular demands in a reflexive way. Adding lectures and workshops is easier than removing them to make space for new content, whether knowledge, skills or attitudes (Densen 2011;Lomis et al 2017;Doukas and Volpe 2018;Gonzalo et al 2018). This may result in overcrowded programs with less time for self-directed learning for students and increased teaching workloads for staff.…”