Academic medicine : journal of the Association of American Medical Colleges
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Because unprofessional behavior of physicians is associated with unprofessional behavior in medical school, identifying unprofessional behavior in medical school is critical. Research has noted the difficulty in assessing professional behavior. Instead of identifying isolated behaviors, it could be more helpful to recognize behavioral patterns to evaluate students' professional behavior. The authors aimed to identify patterns in the unprofessional behaviors of medical students and to construct descriptions based on these patterns. ⋯ These profiles of unprofessional behavior might help to improve the evaluation of unprofessional behavior in medical school. Further research should provide evidence for confidently accepting or rejecting the profiles as an instrument to identify which students are expected to benefit from remediation trajectories.
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Grappling with complex structural health care issues requires medical professionals to have training in skills and knowledge that go beyond the basic and clinical sciences. It is also crucial for health care professionals to be able to work collaboratively. However, medical education has only limitedly institutionalized the teaching of these skills. ⋯ This approach could be applied in other fields, such as medical education on a larger scale, clinical practice, and the design of scientific research.
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In 2008, the National Institutes of Health funded 14 R01 grants to study causal factors that promote and support women's biomedical careers. The Research Partnership on Women in Biomedical Careers, a multi-institutional collaboration of the investigators, is one product of this initiative. A comprehensive framework is needed to address change at many levels-department, institution, academic community, and beyond-and enable gender equity in the development of successful biomedical careers. ⋯ To effect change, culture must be addressed both within and beyond academic health centers (AHCs). Leaders within AHCs must examine their institutions' processes, resources, and assessment for fairness and transparency; mobilize personnel and financial resources to implement evidence-based initiatives; and assign accountability for providing transparent progress assessments. Beyond AHCs, organizations must examine their operations and implement change to ensure parity of funding, research, and leadership opportunities as well as transparency of assessment and accreditation.
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More than a decade ago, women achieved parity with men in the number of matriculants to medical school, nearly one-third of the faculty of medical schools were women, and there were some women deans and department chairs. These trends were promising, but today there are still significant differences in pay, academic rank, and leadership positions for women compared with men in academic medicine. ⋯ The author points to the findings presented in the articles from the Research Partnership on Women in Biomedical Careers in this issue, as well as research being published elsewhere, as an evidence base for the ongoing discussion of gender equity in academic medicine. More attention to culture and the working environment will be needed to achieve true parity for women in academic medical careers.