Teaching and learning of medical professionalism - medical students' experience at the University of Hong Kong

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Little is known in published literature about Asian medical students’ perception and understanding of medical professionalism, as well as their experiences and views on learning about professional attitudes/behavior in medical schools. Summary of work: We performed a qualitative study at the University of Hong Kong to examine the above. Fifty-nine medical students (in nine focus groups), representing year 3 and year 5 students participated in this study. Summary of results: Participants expressed concerns about effective learning and teaching of professionalism at the medical school. A recurring theme was that learning of professionalism by students built on their existing moral values before entering the medical school. We explored how observation of teachers’ role modelling (good or bad) influenced students’ learning of professionalism. Formal teaching in medical ethics and professional qualities was perceived as less useful, possibly due to its focus on knowledge, with less emphasis on skills or behaviour. We discovered problems with existing assessment of professionalism from the students’ perspective. Take home messages: As medical educators, strategies for educating future professional doctors include: (1) selection of medical students with appropriate moral values (2) proper role modelling and (3) developing a valid and reliable assessment strategy for your own medical school.