Compassion and Integrity in Health Professions Education

摘要

Issues related to professionalism have come to the fore in health professions education. Strategies designed to evaluate and increase components of professionalism are now of interest to educators. Skills in improving levels of professionalism can be accurately assessed and taught. Professionalism encompasses attributes of compassion and integrity. Tools to measure indices of compassion have been developed. There are three critical stages in which attributes of compassion and integrity can be assessed: prior to admission, during education, and graduation standards. One effective means of transferring skills related to professionalism is modeling. Health professions educators need to be more aware of the issues related to the assessment of elements of professionalism.