Medical professionalism

• Autores: Rosemarie Anthony Pillai
• Localización: Medicine, ISSN-e 1357-3039, Vol. 44, Nº. 10, 2016, págs. 586-588
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • As medicine grapples with its role and identity in society, defining what is meant by medical professionalism has become increasingly important. Medical professionalism is a broad concept with varying definitions and scope. This article aims to provide physicians with an overview of how three key UK organizations, the Royal College of Physicians, the General Medical Council and the National Health Service, see professionalism. Throughout all the definitions runs the element of ‘trust’, this trust existing between the doctor and their patient, and the doctor and wider society. The basis of this trust partly depends on doctors exhibiting certain behaviours, but it also requires doctors to exhibit sound judgement. Judgement can be evidenced by how doctors communicate with and about patients, and how they use resources or deal with conflicts (e.g. when the doctors' rights as an employee impact on the need for service provision). Ultimately, professionalism cannot be merely a tick list of characteristics or behaviours; it must be a core and unifying identity embraced by the individual physician and fostered through learning and observation that empowers and guides doctors in how to identify and maintain the trust invested in them.