Teaching medical professionalism

Medical professionalism has been notoriously difficult to define and remains poorly understood. Because of this, graduates often have contrasting views on how it is best taught. These views should be considered and incorporated into teaching methods in order to enhance learning and development. Over a six-month consecutive period doctors and medical students in County Durham and Darlington Foundation Trust completed a questionnaire asking them to define professionalism, state where they felt they had learnt about professionalism and how important they feel professionalism is to them. They were also asked to identify how they felt teaching about professionalism was best delivered from a selection of educational resources. The findings highlight major differences between how the material is taught and how students and graduates feel they learn best about professionalism and more research into this field is needed.