Professionalism in residency training: is there a generation gap?

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Professionalism in Medicine
• Graduate Medical Education

Background:

• Professionalism is a core competency in postgraduate medical training.
• Defining and evaluating professional behavior is challenging.
• Potential generational differences in defining professionalism may impact teaching and assessment.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the extent of generational differences in perceptions of professionalism.
• To compare how faculty and residents evaluate professional behaviors.

Main Methods:

• A questionnaire with 16 vignettes depicting unprofessional behaviors was used.
• Internal medicine trainees and faculty rated the severity of each behavior on a 4-point scale.

Main Results:

• Responses varied across severity levels for most vignettes within each group.
• No significant differences in ratings were found between trainees and faculty for most behaviors.

Conclusions:

• There is a lack of consensus on the severity of unprofessional behaviors among faculty and trainees.
• Generational differences do not appear to be the basis for this lack of consensus.
• Difficulties in teaching and assessing professionalism cannot be attributed to generational divides.