Attitudes of Pakistani and Pakistani heritage medical students regarding professionalism at a medical college in Karachi, Pakistan

Abstract

BackgroundAn increased interest in professionalism has been reported in the field of medical education due to concerns regarding deterioration of humanism and professional values in the teaching and practice of medicine. The primary aim of this study was to assess attitudes of Pakistani and Pakistani heritage students at a medical college in Pakistan about important elements of professionalism that an ideal medical doctor should possess. A further objective of the study was to determine students’ preferred ways of learning professionalism.MethodsA written survey was distributed to undergraduate medical students at a public sector medical college at Karachi, Pakistan in 2011. Using the Penn State College of Medicine (PSCOM) Professionalism Questionnaire, attitudes of medical students of semester 1, 5, and 8 regarding professionalism were assessed anonymously.ResultsThe mean age of the students was 21.11 ± 2.72 years. Forty-three percent of the respondents were male. Forty percent of the students held Pakistani citizenship. Thirty-five percent students were US citizens with Pakistani parents and twenty-five percent were Pakistani heritage students that had dual citizenships. No significant differences in the elements of professionalism (Accountability, Altruism, Duty, Excellence, Honesty & Integrity and Respect) mean scores or in the overall mean score of professionalism among the various classes were found. The total overall Cronbach alpha value for all elements of the professionalism in the selected classes was above 0.9. The most preferred methods for learning professionalism were role modeling by faculty, case based scenarios and role plays.ConclusionThe students rated all the attributes of professionalism as important and there was no difference across the study years. The overall internal consistency of each element of professionalism was high in different classes. Faculty role models, case based scenarios and role plays may be used to teach professionalism. As a great majority of students were having a Pakistani heritage rather than complete Pakistani born and bred background, hence findings of the survey may not be taken as representative of typical Pakistani medical students.

The Ecology of Medical Professionalism: Perceived and Emulated, What matters?

“…Majority of students Govindaraja C, Ramachandran G, Ko Ko Min A MedEdPublish https://doi.org/10.15694/mep.2016.000097 in both years preferred learning professionalism by role modeling by teachers as the first choice followed by case studies, lecturers and movies which is in line with the findings of prior research (Akhund et al, 2014;Byszewski et al, 2012;S. R. Cruess et al, 2008;Morreale, Balon, & Arfken, 2011;Ratanawongsa et al, 2006;Riley & Kumar, 2012;Weissmann, Branch, Gracey, Haidet, & Frankel, 2006).…”

“…Year 3 students demonstrated good scores on perceptions of all professional attributes while year 5 students showed a slight decline in equity and altruism (Table 2). This is akin to the reports of prior researchers (Akhund, Shaikh, & Ali, 2014;Crandall, Reboussin, Michielutte, Anthony, & Naughton, 2007;Kopelman, 1983) that students tend to develop a change in attitude to professional values with growing years. Generational studies show that attitudinal feelings in a particular age group are strongest early in life (Johnston, 2006) and this may account for higher scores in students in the early clinical year.…”

Taiwanese and Sri Lankan students’ dimensions and discourses of professionalism

“…Several studies from different countries have explored medical students’ understandings of professionalism . For example, Akhund et al .…”

“…For example, Akhund et al . asked 193 US, Canadian and Pakistani medical students from a single international medical school to identify the relative importance of professionalism attributes: accountability, altruism, duty, excellence, honesty and integrity, and respect. Interestingly, no significant differences were identified between different demographic groups.…”

“…Although research on understanding what medical professionalism means to students across diverse countries such as Taiwan, Pakistan, Australia and the UK has been undertaken, there has been no systematic approach: different studies use different research methods and focus on different research questions. For example, whereas Chui et al .…”