Building a culture of medical professionalism: a case study

Amidst the contemporary debate on the existing practices of physicians and the increasing commercialisation of medicine, the question of professionalism and how medical professionalism is taught at Higher Education Institutions is highly relevant. This study reviews the current practices of teaching and learning medical professionalism in Work Integrated Learning (WIL). The authors view the problem of professionalism as a complex adaptive challenge requiring new learning to adapt to medical professionalism of the future. The objective of the study is to determine the effectiveness in teaching medical professionalism to future physicians. The approach is a case study of best practice in teaching medical professionalism at an Australian university and its conformance to Australian Medical Association guidelines. The study concludes that all medical curricula should integrate medical professionalism and make it an explicit part of WIL assessment and curriculum.