Promoting professionalism through humanities-based transformation.

INTRODUCTION: In the last two decades, academic medical centers in the United States have faced a new challenge, dealing with breaches of medical professionalism in their staff, house staff, and medical students. Medical education settings have largely directed their professionalism efforts toward responding reactively to negative outliers. DISCUSSION: This paper contends that the warrant of medical education mandates a transformative path forward. While negative behavior must be responded to meaningfully, so, too, must positive role models of professional behavior be publicly lauded for their consequential culture change in their institutions, and promoted as positive role models. Further, the promotion of medical professionalism must be part of this culture by proactively engaging all learners and health care providers with medical ethics and humanities-based knowledge, critical thinking skills, and role modeling. CONCLUSION: Professionalism programs should be vested with the authority to implement an affirmative educational program intended to nurture and promote medical professionalism in each medical student, resident, fellow, and attending and utilize methods to that end employing both virtue and care ethics.

Medical professionalism is the foundational concept grounded upon scientific- and humanities-based knowledge and skills, directed toward the promotion of patient benefit with the rejection of self-interest, delivered with excellence in comportment, and the adherence to a covenant of trust with society.Medical educators who solely emphasize the detection and punishment of negative outliers are missing essential elements in promoting medical professionalism.Medical professionalism should be comprehensively addressed through a systematic addressing of teaching fundamental knowledge, skills, and virtue, promote excellence in role modeling and mentorship, and the redress of those lacking insight in their professional conduct.

Oaths, Conscience, Contracts, and Laws-The Gathering Storm Confronting Medical Professionalism.

This Viewpoint explains the 3 trends­personal conscience, employment contracts, and laws­that challenge physicians from putting their patients first and offers ways to reverse these barriers.

[Japanese Code of Ethics for Pharmacists and Professionalism].

In their role as providers of pharmaceutical products to society, pharmacists must demonstrate professionalism if they are to gain the trust of the community. The Japan Pharmaceutical Association has published the Pharmacist Platform in Japan and the Japanese Code of Ethics for Pharmacists; these resources provide clear guidelines for pharmacists and are an important component of the profession. Becoming a pharmacist involves joining a professional community and thereby pledging to accept a set of ethical standards. This concept of the pharmacy profession is shared by other countries, and the International Pharmaceutical Federation has indicated that professionalism is an issue that should be addressed in every country. This review introduces the Pharmacist Platform in Japan, the Japanese Code of Ethics for Pharmacists established by the Japan Pharmaceutical Association, and the background of each establishment.

Industry Payments to Physicians Endorsing Drugs and Devices on a Social Media Platform.

This study evaluates adherence to industry and professional standards among physicians endorsing drugs and devices on a social media platform.

Professionalism in Hand Surgery: Treating the Noncompliant Patient.

Every practicing hand surgeon has had the challenging experience of treating a patient who demonstrates difficulty with, or inability to comply with medical advice. Patient noncompliance can lead to not only poor patient outcomes but also deterioration in the therapeutic relationship, physician burnout, high cost of care, and medical-legal risk. The guiding principles in the ethical practice of medicine render it important to consider noncompliance as a potentially modifiable risk factor, and every attempt should be made to work with these noncompliant patients to achieve the best possible outcomes. Data suggest that noncompliance may be affected by socioeconomic status and race; many of these patients are among the vulnerable. However, in some instances, treatment options may warrant alteration or adjustment to reflect the noncompliance of the patient. Rarely, it may be reasonable for a physician to discharge a patient from care once any urgent problems have been managed. Ethical and responsible management of a noncompliant patient requires a thoughtful and measured approach.

A Heresy of No Consequence: Duties and Virtues in Medicine and Professionalism.

In The Trusted Doctor: Medical Ethics and Professionalism (2020), Rosamond Rhodes presents a new theory of medical ethics based on 16 duties she considers central to medical ethics and professionalism. She asserts that her theory is "bioethical heresy," as it contradicts established "principlism" and "common morality" approaches to ethics in medicine. Rhodes advocates the development of parallelism between clinical and ethical decision-making and a systematic approach that emphasizes duties over principles and rules to facilitate the development of a "doctorly character" among medical decision-makers. Rhodes further asserts that her theory and approach necessitate the cultivation of virtues contained in Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics. But Rhodes's insistence that "medical professionals," not just doctors, are covered by her theory is open to critique, as is her conflation of ethic and morals, especially around the question of the "doctorly character" upon which her duty-based theory hinges. This assessment argues that applicants to medical schools and allied health training programs be screened for specific virtues-honesty, diligence, curiosity, and compassion-to facilitate reinforcement of these pre-professionalized inclinations throughout the habituation processes of medical training. This would increase the probability of turning fear and hope to cure and care via reasoning and affective models performed within an ethical medical framework-even while what this ethical framework should reference remains under debate.

Ethical and Professional Considerations in Integrated Behavioral Health.

Integrated behavioral health models of care offer many benefits for patient experience and outcomes. However, multidisciplinary teams are comprised of professionals who each may have different professional norms and ethical obligations, which may at times be in conflict. This article offers a framework for negotiating potential conflicts between professional norms and expectations across disciplines involved in integrated behavioral health teams.

How Should Health Professionalism Be Redefined to Address Health Equity?

Increasing focus on health equity is placing a spotlight on health professionals' roles. Recent public health crises-the opioid epidemic, maternal mortality, and the COVID-19 pandemic-have renewed focus on racial and ethnic inequity and underscored that trust is foundational to public health and health professionalism. Organizational, system, and policy reform demand that professionalism be redefined in terms of its capacity to motivate equity in health professions education and clinical practice.

Ethical Considerations in Pediatricians' Use of Social Media.

Increasing use of social media by patients and clinicians creates opportunities as well as dilemmas for pediatricians, who must recognize the inherent ethical and legal complexity of these communication platforms and maintain professionalism in all contexts. Social media can be a useful tool in the practice of medicine by educating both physicians and patients, expanding access to health care, identifying high-risk behaviors, contributing to research, promoting networking and online support, enhancing advocacy, and nurturing professional compassion. At the same time, there are confidentiality, privacy, professionalism, and boundary issues that need to be considered whenever potential interactions occur between physicians and patients via social media. This clinical report is designed to assist pediatricians in identifying and navigating ethical issues to harness the opportunities and avoid the pitfalls of social media.