Professionalism in Medicine: Definitions and Considerations for Teaching

Abstract

Professionalism is an important component of medicines contract with society. Not only do we need to make good decisions for our patients based on the evidence in the literature, but we need to apply those decisions in a way that is professional and ultimately helps our patient. Certain behaviors early in medical education do correlate with unprofessional behavior during a physicians career. We need to be vigilant in looking for those behaviors and let our students and trainees know why were so concerned about them. Physicians are likely to improve in professionalism with training and experience.