"The stroke is eighty nine": understanding unprofessional behaviour through physician-authored prose.

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Professionalism Studies
• Medical Ethics

Background:

• Unprofessional behavior among medical professionals poses a significant challenge to patient care and trust.
• Physician-authored literature offers unique insights into the complexities of medical professionalism.

Purpose of the Study:

• To analyze unprofessional behaviors and their underlying causes as depicted in two physician-authored books.
• To apply the Integrative Model of Behavioural Prediction to understand lapses in medical professionalism.

Main Methods:

• Content analysis of two physician-authored texts: the novel 'Bodies' and the autobiography 'Bedside stories: confessions of a junior doctor'.
• Utilizing the Integrative Model of Behavioural Prediction to examine the nature and reasons for professionalism lapses.

Main Results:

• Depictions of unprofessional conduct included communication violations, patient objectification, and causing harm, mirroring findings in medical student research.
• Lapses were often unintentional, attributed to environmental constraints and skill deficits.
• Seemingly intentional unprofessional acts were frequently driven by normative beliefs and social pressure.

Conclusions:

• Environmental and skill-based factors significantly contribute to unintentional unprofessional behavior in medicine.
• Social pressures and normative beliefs can influence intentional unprofessional conduct among physicians.
• Further literary analysis of physician-authored works is recommended to broaden the understanding of medical professionalism issues.