Charter on Physician Professional Flourishing

Abstract

Medical care delivery has adapted to scientific and societal change in the past. However, today's advancing scientific accomplishments and care capabilities, in the context of current societal and economic developments and our emerging digital age, are challenging physician resilience and endurance and trust in the medical profession. Why has this happened and can these characteristics and perceptions of physicians be reversed? The Charter on Physician Professional Flourishing is a method designed to restore the promise of the medical profession and trust in it. It describes a process to reinvigorate patient-centered care from the caregiving physician's perspective. It integrates discipline ethics, behavioral character ethics, and optimized physician-patient dialogue, while considering past, current, and predicted future context and professional sustainability. Its primary outcomes are enhanced quality of care and cost containment and the ability to reassert the voice of the patient in health care planning negotiations.