Professionalism and ethics are difficult to define, and it is often a case of “you
know it when you see it.” In recent years, there have been calls to renew the focus
on professionalism and ethics and their teaching in the medical and allied professions,
part precipitated by a perceived and probably real decline in doctors' professional
values. Medical professionalism has evolved markedly in the last couple of centuries
and continues to change today at a rapid pace, spurred by technological advances and
generational change. The reasons to promote medical professionalism include regulatory
requirements, aligning our professions' outcomes and behaviors, and the moral imperative
that being professional is the right thing to do. Radiologists should emphasize, model,
and teach professionalism to our colleagues, allied personnel, and trainees whenever
opportunity permits. Medical students now receive teaching in professionalism and
ethics throughout their training, and there is a need to continue training formally
and informally during residency training. Faculty or those charged with teaching professionalism
will need to first understand what constitutes medical professionalism, and here we
attempt to define and outline what professionalism looks like in practice. The article
concludes with a summary of the opportunities within radiology practice, with examples,
for us to exhibit professional actions, values, and ideas.
Key Words
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Article Info
Publication History
Published online: March 09, 2016
Accepted:
January 27,
2016
Received in revised form:
January 19,
2016
Received:
November 22,
2015
Footnotes
Supported in part by the Leonard Berlin Award (Project/Grant # N018042 ).
Identification
Copyright
© 2016 The Association of University Radiologists. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
