Professionalism in vogue

The vogue word professionalism1,2 is also a vague one. How do you measure degrees of benevolence and compassion? If it is so obvious to our profession what professionalism is, then why is it so difficult to teach it to medical students and residents? As a clinical teacher, I can testify that professionalism is no doubt one of the hardest points to evaluate and to remediate in our trainees.

If “professionalism” is truly so universal, why are there different versions of the Hippocratic oath in various medical schools? Let us recognize the fact that physicians are normal human beings with diverse cultural backgrounds and value systems that can affect our definition of professionalism.

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