Open AccessProfessionalism and ethics: A proposed curriculum for undergraduates
Author(s) -
Rajiv Mahajan,
Blessed W Aruldhas,
Monika Sharma,
Dinesh Badyal,
Tejinder Singh
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
international journal of applied and basic medical research/international journal of applied and basic medical research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2248-9606
pISSN - 2229-516X
DOI - 10.4103/2229-516x.186963
Subject(s) - curriculum , morality , engineering ethics , medical ethics , information ethics , meta ethics , nursing ethics , hidden curriculum , applied ethics , professional ethics , medical education , normative ethics , military medical ethics , psychology , sociology , pedagogy , medicine , political science , law , engineering , psychiatry
Professionalism is the attributes, behaviors, commitments, values, and goals that characterize a profession. In medical professional, it encompasses strong societal role and involves emotional component too. On the other hand, ethics is the study of morality - careful and systematic analysis of moral decisions and behaviors and practicing those decisions. Medical ethics focuses primarily on issues arising out of the practice of medicine. It is generally believed that professionalism and ethics are caught by watching your teachers and seniors and not taught formally. Professionalism and ethics are previously diffused passively to the students through "the hidden curriculum," leaving a lot to chance. However, over the time, it has been advocated that graduates need to be formally trained in the concepts of professionalism and ethics. In this paper, we propose a formal curriculum on professionalism and ethics, tailor-made for Indian medical graduates.