Reclaiming the concept of professionalism in the digital context; a principle-based concept analysis

Abstract

Background This concept analysis aims to present the best estimate of understanding and attitudes of medical and allied healthcare students and educators towards e-professionalism. This work also elucidates the probable truth about safeguarding the concept of medical professionalism in the digital context. Methods This concept analysis was adopted by the Penrod and Hupcey’s principle-based approach using the key term ‘e-professionalism’. On January 2023, PubMed and ISI web of Science were searched for English-language peer-reviewed articles specific to e-professionalism in the medical field. The finally selected research corpus contained 63 articles. Results A comprehensive analysis of the existing body of knowledge highlighted that e-professionalism is an epistemologically mature and distinct concept with a standard definition. However, inconsistencies in conceptual meanings were reported due to varied understandings despite digital literacy. The pragmatic utility showed a lack of sound methodological and philosophical paradigms. Perhaps the technological rapid advancements and manifestations have hampered the linguistic maturity. However, logically, e-professionalism is perceived as an extension of conventional professionalism but with a contextual hinging demanding a distinct framework with a set of attributes to be digitally relevant. Conclusion This concept analysis provides insight into the scarcity of research regarding the collective perspective of essential stakeholders, highlighting the need to investigate further e-professionalism and its complex patterns emerging within the digital context. There is also a recognition of the need for a framework implementation to guide future healthcare professionals. Such framework may potentially yield a more profound understanding and remediation strategies to keep pace with the rapidly advancing medical field in the digital realm.