Exploring medical professionalism in undergraduate medical students - A Cross sectional Study

Professionalism in medical schools fosters ethical practice, patient trust, and excellence in healthcare. This study aimed to determine the attitudes of medical students towards professionalism based on gender, year of training, and disciplinary actions at Army Medical College, Rawalpindi, Pakistan.

The present cross-sectional analytic study was conducted at Army Medical College, Rawalpindi, from July to September 2024. The attitude of 682 students from 1^st to 5^th year MBBS was explored using the "Learner's Attitude towards Medical Professionalism Scale." Disciplinary actions were checked from the college record; only 'written warnings' and 'pay fines' were considered disciplinary actions.

There were 425 (62.32%) males and 257 (37.68%) females with a mean age of 21.31 ± 1.68 years. Out of 682, disciplinary actions were taken against 241 (35.34%) students. Again, out of 682 students, 479 (70.23%) showed unprofessional attitude. Three hundred twenty-three (76%) males and 156 (61%) females showed an unprofessional attitude (p-value <0.001, odds ratio 2.05). Professionalism score was higher in females (median 3.93) as compared to males (median 3.68) at p-value <0.001. One hundred eighty-four (76%) recipients and 295 (67%) non-recipients of disciplinary actions showed unprofessional attitude (p-value 0.01, odds ratio 1.60). Professionalism score for students who underwent disciplinary actions was lower (median 3.68) than those who had no disciplinary actions (median 3.86) at p-value <0.001. Professionalism was negatively correlated with disciplinary actions (p-value < 0.001, r-value -0.18) and years of training (p-value 0.006, r-value -0.11).

The attitude towards professionalism was poorer in the male gender, higher years of training and in students who underwent disciplinary actions.