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Wit is not Enough

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Professionalism in Medicine

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Conclusions: Beyond Medical School

Beyond the challenges of professionalism education in medical school, ensuring the maintenance of competencies during a physician’s professional life presents even greater hurdles. Medical students are “captive” learners, and teachers regularly engage them in formal learning environments, but there are no traditional classrooms for practicing physicians, and there is no teacher who is watching over them. Questions about what should be the core elements of a lifelong curriculum for physicians are not fully answered. Who should and how to effectively assess that physicians continually possess the competencies to deliver quality patient care remain largely unresolved. Addressing these and other challenges is critical because physicians are students of medicine for life, but only medical students for a relatively brief period in their professional career.

Like all professions, medicine has long possessed special rights and privileges that are recognized by society. This cherished status is grounded in the expectation that professions will ensure that its practitioners are competent in carrying out its craft. As we approach the 100th anniversary of the Flexner report, the medical profession recognizes that the time has arrived to fundamentally examine how physicians acquire and maintain the knowledge, skills, behavior, and judgment essential to the delivery of ethical, science-based, and compassionate care, and to make the necessary changes to strengthen the three stages of the educational continuum—medical school, residency training and fellowship, and continuing physician professional development. A concerted effort to change the culture of medicine and transform the infrastructure to support and promote lifelong learning and constructive assessment must be undertaken, lest parties outside of medicine deem it appropriate for them to intervene. With such a profession-wide commitment to promote excellence in patient care through advances in physician learning, the medical profession will reaffirm its obligation to advocate for the sick and injured, and, in turn,strengthens the public’s trust in medicine.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. American Medical Association, USA

    Audiey Kao & Jennifer Reenan

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  1. Audiey Kao
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  2. Jennifer Reenan
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  1. Northeastern Ohio Universities College of Medicine, USA

    Delese Wear  & Julie M. Aultman  & 

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Kao, A., Reenan, J. (2006). Wit is not Enough. In: Wear, D., Aultman, J.M. (eds) Professionalism in Medicine. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/0-387-32727-4_12

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