Measuring professionalism in a physiatry residency training program

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Rehabilitation Medicine
• Professionalism Studies

Background:

• Professionalism is a core competency in medical training.
• Assessing professionalism in physiatry residency programs requires reliable measurement tools.
• Existing tools may need adaptation for specific medical specialties.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the reliability and validity of a professionalism questionnaire for physiatry residents.
• To identify underlying factors of professionalism within this cohort.
• To compare findings with established professionalism assessment models.

Main Methods:

• A 12-item questionnaire, adapted from the American Board of Internal Medicine's tool, was administered to 122 physiatry residents across six programs.
• Response rate was 59% (72 participants).
• Internal reliability (Cronbach's alpha) and factor analysis were conducted.

Main Results:

• The questionnaire demonstrated satisfactory internal reliability (Cronbach's alpha = 0.75).
• Mean item score was 7.7 out of 10, indicating a high perceived level of professionalism.
• Factor analysis yielded three key factors: excellence, honor/integrity, and altruism/respect, explaining 64% of the variance.

Conclusions:

• The adapted questionnaire is a reliable tool for measuring professionalism in physiatry residency.
• The identified factors align with those found in broader internal medicine assessments.
• This study supports the development of standardized professionalism assessment in physiatry training.