Teaching professionalism: a South African perspective.

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Professionalism Studies

Background:

• Integrating professionalism education and assessment into undergraduate medical curricula presents significant challenges.
• Key areas requiring attention include both the cognitive understanding and experiential application of professionalism.

Purpose of the Study:

• To embed the teaching and assessment of professionalism within a newly revised six-year undergraduate medical curriculum at the University of Pretoria (UP).

Main Methods:

• A descriptive approach was used to analyze a multi-year curriculum revision process.
• The study utilized the eight principles of teaching professionalism by Cruess & Cruess (2006) to evaluate UP's curriculum.
• Cognitive components were addressed through stage-appropriate assignments, while experiential learning insights were gathered from student responses on role model influence.

Main Results:

• The cognitive aspects of professionalism teaching and assessment were successfully integrated into the curriculum.
• Maintaining the cognitive component presents an ongoing challenge.
• The experiential component of professionalism education has shown limited change compared to the pre-revision curriculum.

Conclusions:

• Future efforts will focus on expanding the teaching and assessment of professionalism within the experiential domain.
• Developing a faculty-led charter on professionalism is proposed to guide undergraduate white coat ceremonies and role model supervision.
• A robust assessment strategy for the experiential component of professionalism is required for effective implementation.