The ‘Octopus’ Skills Model of a Medical Professional: A Focus Group Discussion

Abstract

Background: Professional behavior or professionalism refers to the traits that a skilled person must possess in order to be maximally effective. When it comes to a medical professional, professionalism refers to the values and behaviors that connect a health professional to society. Professionalism has always been a part of curriculum, but students are hardly involved in development of professional curriculum including its outcomes. This study was designed to formulate an undergraduate model of competencies expected in a medical professional, based on perceptions of medical students. Methods: A focus group discussion of purposive sample of 17 final year medical students in 2 groups was conducted under supervision of an experienced moderator. The study comprised of 3 rounds of discussion, each lasting for 90 minutes. Consensus was extracted by content analysis and numerical analysis.Results: Out of 28 competencies extracted initially, eight professional competencies were shortlisted by manual thematic analysis, which included learning skills, behavioral skills, procedural skills, self-regulation skills, organizational skills, research skills, teaching skills, and emotional skills. This resulted in generation of 8-limbed Octopus skills model of a medical professional, which would help the students in better compliance of medical professionalism. Conclusion: Being generated by medical students, the ‘Octopus’ Model of Skills is expected to give ownership of these eight competencies to be acquired during formative years by all future doctors and may serve as students’ perspective in curriculum and professional development.