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Medical Professionalism—A Developmental View from the Trenches

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The Bridge Between Bioethics and Medical Practice

Part of the book series: The International Library of Bioethics ((ILB,volume 98))

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Abstract

According to Webster's dictionary, professionalism is “the conduct, aims, or qualities that characterize or mark a profession or a professional person”. In everyday practice, its meaning differs significantly for professionals, patients, third-party payers, and stakeholders. Being contextual and nearly constantly evolving, medical professionalism is a complex and continuously changing experience and expertise, even if a second-order phenomenon, as it cannot exist without necessary technical competencies. Alongside narrowly defined technical competencies, emphasis is placed on competencies that are more closely related to conceptions of medicine as an art, which are impacted by numerous changes and challenges. Forms and content of professionalism ought to be openly (re)negotiated with all the significant others, especially with those it strives to serve. Trustworthiness, accountability, interdependence (or embeddedness), and integrity are of utmost importance.

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Correspondence to Renzo Pegoraro .

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Semplicini, A., Pegoraro, R. (2022). Medical Professionalism—A Developmental View from the Trenches. In: Ćurković, M., Borovečki, A. (eds) The Bridge Between Bioethics and Medical Practice. The International Library of Bioethics, vol 98. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-09733-1_2

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