The Mount Sinai journal of medicine, New York
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Medical professionalism encourages physicians to place their patients interests above self-interest. In recent years, many medical organizations, including the American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM), Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC), and the American Medical Association (AMA), have developed initiatives to strengthen medical professionalism. ⋯ One crucial question facing medical educators is whether the concepts of professionalism can be taught to medical students and residents. This paper draws upon the author s thirty years of experience in teaching clinical medical ethics to provide guidance on how to teach the concepts of professionalism to students and residents.
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Principles of medical professionalism include humanistic values, altruism, ethical and moral behavior, and a lifelong commitment to scholarship and learning. These principles can provide behavioral guidelines to residents, fellows and their teacher-physicians during the formative years of postgraduate training. This short paper presents some of the challenging professional questions raised during these years of training, where medical professionalism may help to guide us.