Your professionalism is not my professionalism: congruence and variance in the views of medical students and faculty about professionalism

Journal Article

Meo, Kamran Sattar, Sue Roff and Sultan Ayoub . 2016

• Publication Work Type: Academic Research
• Issue Number: 285
• Volume Number: 16
• Pages: 1-7

Publication Abstract

Background: Medical professionalism is an essential aspect of medical education and practice worldwide and it
must be adopted according to different social and cultural contexts. We examined the current congruence and
variance in the perception of professionalism in undergraduate medical students and faculty members in one
medical school in Saudi Arabia.
Methods: The target population was first year to final year medical students of College of Medicine, King Saud
University. Out of a total of 1431 students at College of Medicine 750 students (52 %) participated in the study. Fifty
faculty members from clinical and non-clinical departments of the College of Medicine were randomly selected for
this study and all participated in the study. The respondents recorded their responses through the Bristol online
survey system, using a bilingual (English and Arabic) version of the Dundee Polyprofessionalism Inventory I:
Academic integrity, which has 34 items.
Results: There are 17 lapses (50 % of the total) in professional behaviour where none of the faculty recommend
the ignore sanction while students recommended a variable ignore sanction in a range of 6–29 % for different
behaviours. Students and faculty recommended similar sanctions for 5 lapses (14.7 % of the total) in professional
behaviours. Furthermore, there is statistically significant two level difference between the sanctions approved by
faculty and students in the recommended sanctions for 12 lapses (35 % of the total (p < 0.050).
Conclusions: These results raised concerns in relation to the students’ understanding of professionalism. It is
therefore, important to enhance their learning around the attributes of medical professionalism.