MEASURING PROFESSIONALISM IN RESIDENCY PROGRAM

Professionalism forms an integral part of residency training. In the past few decades, professionalism in medical practice has been confronted with many challenges. Considering these challenges, theAccreditation Council of Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) and CanMEDS have labeled professionalism as one of their core competencies. The College of Physicians and Surgeons of Pakistan (CPSP) hasa specialized department that is training the faculty in Health Professions Education. Professionalism is included among the core competencies of the college. In this review we discuss the most common means of teaching and evaluation of professionalism in residency training. Professionalism can be taught tothe residents through lectures, ward rounds, discussion groups and by day-to-day interactions of the residents with their supervisors and senior colleagues. Ensuring professionalism in a residency program requires continuous monitoring and evaluation. The commonly employed methods include multisource evaluation, self – assessment, direct observation and critical incidence report. Feedbacks from patients, nurses and peers are also an important means to assess professionalism of attending residents. With regards to professionalism, the most common challenges that the medical institutions are facing include lack of development of faculty, unavailability of suitable tools or objectives for evaluation of professionalism, lack of resources and remediation challenges. Considering the need for professionalism training, the accreditation institutes around the world have incorporated teaching of professionalism as an integral component of their residency training programs. Only by proper teaching and evaluation of professional attributes we can prepare the medical practitioners that fulfill the needsof the society.