الفهرس 
IntroductionOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
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Abstract
Professionalism has been described by the American Board of Internal
Medicine as ”constituting those attitudes and behaviors that serve to maintain
patient interest above physician self-interest”(I)
The word profession is derived from profess which means ’to proclaim
something publicly’. Physicians profess two things: to be competent to help the
patients and to have the patient’s best interests in mind. Such commitment
invites trust from their patients. (I)
Professionalism is critical for physicians in order to provide optimum
care and achieve better health outcomes. (2)
Professionalism is based on the principles of primacy of patient welfare,
patient autonomy, and social justice. It involves the following professional
responsibilities such as: honesty, patient confidentiality, appropriate relations
with patients, improving quality of care, improving access to care, just
distribution of finite resources, commitment to scientific knowledge,
maintaining trust by managing conflicts of interest, commitment to professional
responsibiliues+’!
Professionalism is coming to the forefront as an essential element of
graduate medical education as one of the six new core competency
requirements of the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education
(ACGME). Professionalism is also integral to the widely endorsed Model of
the Clinical Practice of Emergency Medicine. Program directors have now
been charged with implementing the new core competencies in training
programs and assessing the acquisition of these competencies in their trainees.
(Introduction and Rationale
Society expects physicians to act professionally. In response to recent
criticism regarding unprofessional behavior in medicine, some argue that
improving medical professionalism can only occur through changes in teaching
and assessing it(5)
Assessment of professionalism may also be performed at the program or
institutional level. Consistent with current emphasis on measuring learning or
performance outcomes in determining program quality, assessment data
provide an important source of such evidence. As with individual learners,
assessment may be viewed as baving formative (program improvement) or
summative (accreditation related) purposes, or both, and can include
aggregation of individual assessment results or direct sampling of
environmental attitudes and behaviors. It is important to consider the
relationship between educational program objectives and learners’ education
experience (curriculum) in deciding upon assessment methods ’and content (6,7)
Indeed, the absence of balanced assessment of professional attitudes and . behaviors allows learners to develop misconceptions regarding their
importance. Learners who are not assessed with regard to professionalism will
logically assume that educators care less about this domain than knowledge or
skill domains, which are assessed more thoroughly’’”
Although assessing professionalism poses many challenges, gauging and
ascertaining growth in professionalism is impossible without measurement.
The review of approaches to assess professionalism in medical education is that
without solid assessment tools, questions about the efficacy of approaches to
educating learners about professional behavior will not be effectively
answered” (5)
Instruments used to assess professionalism are categorized: into three
groups: those assessing professionalism as part of clinical performance; those
assessing it as a comprehensive entity; and those assessing separate elements of Introduction and Rationale
professionalism, such as humanism and ethical decision-making. Assessments
could be improved by focusing on professionalism as a separate entity,
including rigorous qualitative approaches, exploring the extent to which the
environment supports assessment, and determining the usefulness of
developmental expectations in assessing professionalism. Assessment of
professionalism should also address cognitive and behavioral outcomes. (5,8)
Faculty of Medicine, Suez Canal University (FOM,SCU), is a unique
medical school and is a problem based learning medical School. Its
establishment was not just an addition to other medical schools in Egypt but
was an initiative to innovation. (8)
Behavioral and social sciences and medical ethics are included in the
undergraduates’ curriculum. The first block in the first year of medical studies
in FOM/SCU deals with man and environment. This block is very important in
orienting new students about the scope of the health with all its dimensions
including physical, mental, social, psychological and behavioral domains. They
learn that health is determined by behavior with governs the interaction
between the genetic core and the surrounding environment. (8)
Social and behavioral science then permeate the six-year program. In
first year, students learn about impact of physical, social, psychological and
behavioral factors on health through the lifecycle. They acquire communication
skills in their field training. This includes communications with patients, with
peers and with other members of health team. (8)
In second and third years, they are more exposed to community either
through family visits program or field training in Primary Health Care (PHC)
centers. They trained on interpersonal relationship and conflicts and their
impact on health. (8)
Introduction and Rationale
In clinical phase, students have variety of learning experience in the area of
social and behavioral sciences. In the block of occupational health they are also
exposed to medical ethics pertaining to particular patient-doctor relationship (8).
The medical ethics are also included in details in Forensic Medicine
curriculum during final two years; it is also fostered in community and family
medicine programs. It entails knowledge about human rights related to health
in general as well as doctor -patient relationship’V
Assessing professionalism has many purposes. It provides useful
feedback about individual strengths and weaknesses that guides future learning
and foster habits of self-reflection and self-rernediation. (9) It also certifies
achievement of curricular goals, promote faculty development and certify
competences of graduates. So, it is important to assess professionalism among
residents at Suez Canal University Hospital.