Virtual Mentor. December 2003, Volume 5, Number 12.

December 2003 Contents

Professionalism in Medical Education

Ethics Poll

How should professionalism be taught in medical school?
Didactic curriculum w/ case-based workshops and multi-perspective feedback exercises throughout all 4 years.
Formal regularly scheduled meetings with a faculty mentor that emphasizes professional development and assessment.
Informal mentoring on the wards with an explicit emphasis on physician role-modeling.
Other.
Professionalism cannot be taught in medical school.

Should medical students receive a grade for "professionalism"?
Yes, in the preclinical years only.
Yes, in the clinical years only.
Yes, throughout all 4 years.
No.

You are a fourth-year student on intern med rotation. You have just read results of a CT scan on your patient Alan; the results are consistent with lung cancer. You have not yet discussed the results with any of Alan's care team. Alan meets you in the hall and asks what the results show. What would you do (not, what would you hope you would do)?
Tell Alan that you have not seen the results.
Tell Alan that you have seen the results but cannot discuss them with him at this time.
Tell Alan the results when he asks.
Give Alan an ambiguous answer, by discussing the specificity and sensitivity of CT imaging.

From the Editor

Professionalism Begins in Medical School
Deirdre Coyle Masterton, Margaret Horlick and Chris Jones
Full Text

Educating for Professionalism

Clinical Cases

Offensive Music in the OR
Commentary by Rachel Sackrowitz and Kenneth M. Sutin
Full Text

Is There More to Medical School than Grades?
Commentary by Gregory Lopez and Mel Rosenfeld
Full Text

See One, Do One, Teach One: Competence versus Confidence in Performing Procedures
Commentary by Sanjay Yadla and Eileen M. Rattigan
Full Text

Student Role in Discussion of Diagnosis with Patients
Commentary by Mary Oliver and Mary Ann Hopkins
Full Text

Journal Discussion

Meaningful Assessment of Professional Competence in Medical School Curriculum
Jaclyn Halpern
Full Text

Clinical Pearl

Identifying an Impaired Physician
Stephen Ross
Full Text

Law, Policy, and Society

Health Law

Limits to Peer Review Privilege
Amy Young
Full Text

Policy Forum

A Critical Review of Standardized Patient Examinations as Part of the USMLE
Hillary Johnson
Full Text

Medicine and Society

Memoirs of a Simulated Patient: What Physicians Can Learn from Actors
Ari Laura Keith
Full Text

Op-Ed and Correspondence

Op-Ed

Can Professionalism Be Taught?
David T. Stern
Full Text

History, Art, and Narrative

Medical Humanities

I Knew Too Much
Anne Bertkau
Full Text

Resources

Suggested Readings and Resources
Full Text

Test Questions
Full Text

About the Contributors
Full Text