IngentaConnect Doctors in acute and longitudinal care specialties emphasise diff...

Authors: Garfield, Joseph M¹; Garfield, Frances B¹; Hevelone, Nathanael D²; Bhattacharyya, Neil³; Dedrick, Daniel F¹; Ashley, Stanley W⁴; Nadel, Eric S⁵; Katz, Joel T⁶; Kim, Christine⁷; Mitani, Aya A¹

Source: Medical Education, Volume 43, Number 8, August 2009 , pp. 749-756(8)

Publisher: Blackwell Publishing

Abstract:

Objectives

Organised medicine mandates that professionalism be taught during specialty training. This study's primary objective was to determine the relative importance that doctors in different specialties place on different attributes of a medical professional. Methods

Attending staff and resident doctors in acute care (anaesthesia, emergency medicine, surgery) and longitudinal care (internal medicine, psychiatry) specialties at a large academic hospital completed an anonymous, web-based survey. The forced-choice format required respondents to narrow down 25 professional attributes to three. The main outcome measure was the number of doctors in the two specialty groups who chose one or more attributes in each of six underlying categories. Results

Almost two-thirds of respondents in both groups chose Moral and Ethical attributes. Significantly more longitudinal than acute care doctors chose Relationships with Patients attributes (76% versus 58%) and Communication Skills attributes (28% versus 18%), whereas significantly more acute care doctors chose Clinical Competence attributes (44% versus 29%). Specialty group was more important in choice of professional attributes than gender or position as a resident or attending staff doctor. Conclusions

Most respondents chose attributes that the literature and organised medicine define as core elements of medical professionalism. The differences between specialty groups suggest that attributes in the Relationships with Patients and Communication Skills categories be emphasised for trainees in acute care specialties, and attributes in the Clinical Competence category be emphasised for trainees in longitudinal care specialties.

Document Type: Research article

DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2923.2009.03411.x

Affiliations: 1: Department of Anesthesiology, Perioperative & Pain Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, USA 2: Dana-Farber Cancer Center, Boston, Massachusetts, USA 3: Department of Otolaryngology, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA 4: Department of Surgery, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA 5: Departments of Emergency Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA 6: Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA 7: Department of Psychiatry, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA

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