Doctors in acute and longitudinal care specialties emphasise different professional attributes: implications for...

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Professionalism Studies
• Healthcare Management

Background:

• Organized medicine requires professionalism training in medical specialties.
• Understanding specialty-specific views on professionalism is crucial for effective training.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess the relative importance doctors in different specialties place on various attributes of a medical professional.
• To identify differences in perceived professionalism attributes between acute care and longitudinal care physicians.

Main Methods:

• Anonymous web-based survey administered to attending and resident doctors in acute care (anesthesia, emergency medicine, surgery) and longitudinal care (internal medicine, psychiatry) specialties.
• Respondents used a forced-choice format to select three out of 25 professional attributes.
• Analysis focused on attribute category choices by specialty group.

Main Results:

• Moral and Ethical attributes were chosen by nearly two-thirds of all respondents.
• Longitudinal care doctors significantly favored Relationships with Patients (76% vs. 58%) and Communication Skills (28% vs. 18%) compared to acute care doctors.
• Acute care doctors significantly prioritized Clinical Competence (44% vs. 29%) over longitudinal care doctors.
• Specialty group was a stronger determinant of attribute choice than gender or position.

Conclusions:

• While most doctors value core professionalism attributes, significant differences exist between specialty groups.
• Acute care trainees may benefit from enhanced focus on patient relationships and communication skills.
• Longitudinal care trainees could benefit from increased emphasis on clinical competence.