Using Simplified Thematic Engagement of Professionalism Scale to Promote Professional Development in Paediatric Undergraduate Posting

Teaching and assessing professional values for medical students is not a straightforward task. Long talks about ethical values that do not always translate into adequate practice. One improved way to instil and assess professional values in medical students is by using the Simplified Thematic Engagement of Professionalism Scale (STEPS), as practised in the School of Medical Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM). Lecturers and health professionals assess students through multiple short encounter assessments, capturing “snapshots” of professional experiences that can result in a comprehensive and reliable professionalism assessment. In this article, we suggest a slight modification of the concept: students are asked to reflect on each of the professional values listed in the STEPS and allocate marks for themselves. Then, they justify their best and worst marks by sharing the experiences that led to these marks with their mentoring lecturer(s). At the end of the posting, the mentoring lecturer(s) can, as such, come up with a reliable overall mark, based on the students’ experiences and progress.