Definitions of Professionalism

Professionalism is defined by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) as follows:

Residents must demonstrate a commitment to carrying out professional responsibilities and an adherence to ethical principles. Residents are expected to demonstrate¹:

The American Medical Association’s proposed definition of professional competence is “the habitual and judicious use of communication, knowledge, technical skills, clinical reasoning, emotions, values, and reflection in daily practice for the benefit of the individual and community being served.”² Organizations in multiple fields of medicine have developed their own definitions for professionalism, but overall most of the descriptions have been similar in their ideals and framework. Pediatrics differs from other fields in that a pediatrician has the responsibility to effectively interact with the child as the patient and the child’s parents/family as the decision maker, while also communicating appropriately with other supporting staff and fellow colleagues. This creates unique circumstances that must be considered when defining professionalism in pediatrics.

The American Board of Pediatrics (ABP) published Foundations for Evaluating the Competency of Pediatricians in 1974.³ This publication was the Board’s initial attempt to define the skills that would be expected of the pediatrician, including interpersonal skills, technical skills, clinical judgment, knowledge, and attitudes. Residencies were asked over the next several years to evaluate the these skills and to assess their trainees in the performance of these skills and professionalism.

More recently, the ABP has worked on defining professionalism as it pertains to pediatrics in the Program Director’s Guide to the ABP: Resident Evaluation, Tracking & Certification published in 2003.⁴ Professionalism was defined to include, but not be limited to, the principles set as guidelines that should be used in the training and evaluation of this competency. The eight principles are described below^4,5: