Teaching and assessing professionalism in the Indian context

Developing professional values and behaviour is an indispensable part of training of medicine. Societal values have changed and there are increasing reports of unprofessional behaviour by physicians. It is now agreed that professionalism must also be 'taught' besides being 'caught'. Most regulatory documents in India mention professionalism in a cursory manner, and do not specify details of how it should be taught and assessed in the curriculum. Teaching-learning methods, assessment and the training schedule for professionalism need to be specified in the undergraduate and postgraduate curriculum for it to be taken seriously. This article discusses the concept of professionalism, its definitions and the various teaching and assessment methods that can be applied in the Indian context.