Professionalism for a new era: The challenge for medical education

In a changing world, the AMA has joined with medical schools to teach what it means to be a doctor.

Editorial. Oct. 20, 2003.

Professionalism is defined by Webster's dictionary as "the concept, aims or qualities that characterize or mark a profession or a professional person."

It's a fairly nebulous definition. Rightly so, it leaves further refinement up to a profession itself and allows for fine-tuning as progress -- and the complexities that often accompany it -- make their presence felt. But nebulousness can be a curse as well, most notably when the profession's definition becomes increasingly open to debate and outside forces threaten to intervene.

It is in this state that medical professionalism now lies. Modes of practice are changing. It's not really all that surprising that individuals practicing medicine under vastly different circumstances may hold vastly different views on the "concepts, aims or qualities" that mark their profession as a whole.

Precisely because medicine is under siege, that lack of consensus within the physician community is especially alarming. If the profession doesn't get a better grip on its own sense of professionalism, it will be one more area vulnerable to attack.

Recognizing that, the American Medical Association created Strategies for Teaching and Evaluating Professionalism, or STEP. The association has partnered with 10 medical schools with the goal of developing innovative, effective methods for teaching professionalism to future generations of physicians.

Nearly one-third of the medical schools in the United States and Canada were interested in partnering with the AMA in this program -- a sure indication of the importance of the issue to the profession.