Abstract
We argue that a turn toward virtue ethics as a way of understanding medical professionalism represents both a valuable corrective and a missed opportunity. We look at three ways in which a closer appeal to virtue ethics could help address current problems or issues in professionalism education—first, balancing professionalism training with demands for professional virtues as a prerequisite; second, preventing demands for the demonstrable achievement of competencies from working against ideal professionalism education as lifelong learning; and third, avoiding temptations to dismiss moral distress as a mere “hidden curriculum” problem. As a further demonstration of how best to approach a lifelong practice of medical virtue, we will examine altruism as a mean between the extremes of self-sacrifice and selfishness.
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Acknowledgments
Susan McCammon is grateful to Mark Clark and Alina Bennett for discussion of Shay’s views of moral injury. Howard Brody appreciates Franklin G. Miller’s comments on the beacon/map metaphor for ethics.
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McCammon, S.D., Brody, H. How Virtue Ethics Informs Medical Professionalism. HEC Forum 24, 257–272 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10730-012-9202-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10730-012-9202-0