5. • The American philosopher Mortimer J. Adler
defined a professional as:
“a man or woman who does skilled work to
achieve a useful social goal. In other words,
the essential characteristic of a profession is
the dedication of its members to the service
they perform”
7. 7 PILLARS OF A PROFESSION
(1). technical skill and craftsmanship, renewed
by continuing education;
(2). a sense of social responsibility;
(3). a knowledge of history;
(4). a knowledge of literature and the arts;
(5). personal integrity;
(6). faith in the meaning and value of life; and
(7). the grace of humility
8.
9. • With poor supervision and mentorship, new
doctors may internalise beliefs that certain
‘unvirtuous’ behaviours are virtuous, since
that is ‘the way things are in medicine’; that
is to say, it is the cultural norm.
10. A physician is defined by:
1. Development of research
2. Establishment of policy statements
3. Accreditation standards
11. • “professionalism is the basis of medicine’s
contract with society” – professionalism
charter by American Board of Internal
Medicine & American College of Physicians
12. Professionalism encompasses:
1. the physician’s personal commitment to the
welfare of their patients
2. the collective efforts to improve the health
care system for the welfare of society
16. • A professional must be able to explain why in
a specific case, for a specific patient, the
professional’s behavior/decision was
appropriate
17.
18. Professional Identity Formation
• requires constant reflection during the path
from student, through graduate medical
education, and eventually to practicing
physician because of the need for reforming
the pre-professional identity into a new
professional identity
19. • Some schools are implementing situational
judgment tests in an attempt to identify those
lacking foundation professional attributes
necessary for PIF.
• Such tests assess qualities such as empathy,
integrity and teamwork through responses to
hypothetical scenarios.
20. • An increasing number of medical schools have
adopted Multiple Mini-Interviews to screen
applicants, as it has been shown they
effectively assess critical thinking,
communication skills, and situational
reactions to ethical conflicts
21. • Faculty members set examples of both
behaviors to avoid (e.g. intimidation,
disparaging remarks about patient/team
members), and behaviors to model (e.g.
embracing respect and collegiality, responding
and intervening when lapses occur)
22. The Importance of Reflection in
Professional Identity Formation
• Medical students learn effectively from
reflecting upon day to day experiences with
patients / colleagues / health care system.
Negative experiences also add to PIF.
23. • Advancing knowledge might be assessed by
documenting publications, professional
presentations, or research in a portfolio.
24. • The best time to inculcate professionalism in
doctors is at undergraduate level.
• Once they reach post-graduate level, it
becomes difficult to let go of attitudes
passively acquired during medical school that
lead to unprofessional attitude and
disciplinary actions in later life.
25. QUALITIES OF AN IDEAL PHYSICIAN
• Students were asked to list the most important
qualities of an ideal physician.
• In their responses, 81% of the preclinical students
and 57% of the graduating students mentioned
empathy, while professional skills were
mentioned by 48% and 52%, respectively.
• The preclinical students ranked communication
skills as the third most important quality (42%),
while graduating students ranked professional
knowledge third (34%).
26. • More important than establishing your
professional identity as a physician is the fact
that at the very same time we all carry so
many other identities eg. a mother, father
husband, wife, daughter, son, friend etc. Being
able to carry all these identities together and
timely switching from one to the other is the
essence of professional identity formation.
