Reflective professionalism: interpreting CanMEDS' "professionalism".

Full Abstract

Residency training in the Netherlands is to be restructured over the coming years. To this end a general competence profile for medical specialists has been introduced. This profile is nearly the same as the Canadian CanMEDS 2000 model, which describes seven general areas of medical specialist competence, one of which is professionalism. In order to establish a training programme for residents and their instructors based on this competence, it is necessary to develop a vision that does justice to everyday medical practice. The two most prevailing views of professionalism--as personal, or as a behavioural characteristic--fall short of this. Only when professionalism is understood as reflective professionalism does it encompass the fundamental contextuality of medical treatment. This means that the focus of training and assessment must be shifted to accountability for treatment.

Author information

Author/s: Verkerk, M A (MA); de Bree, M J (MJ); Mourits, M J E (MJ);

Affiliation: Professor M A Verkerk, University Medical Center Groningen, University of Groningen, Expertisecenter for Ethics and Care, PO Box 196, 9700 AD Groningen, The Netherlands. m.a.verkerk(-atsign-)med.umcg.nl

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article

Journal: Journal of medical ethics (J Med Ethics), published in England. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2007-Nov; vol 33 (issue 11) : pp 663-6

Dates: Created 2007/10/31; Completed 2008/04/18; Revised 2009/06/04;

PMID: 17971471, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 6/5/2009, IMS Date: )

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