Comparative study of professionalism of future medical professionals among three private medical colleges of Bangladesh

• Main Authors: Mainul, Haque, Nor Iza, A.Rahman, ABDUS, SALAM
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: 2013
• Subjects: L Education (General)
• Online Access: http://eprints.unisza.edu.my/4337/1/FH02-FPSK-14-00542.pdf; http://eprints.unisza.edu.my/4337/
• Institution: Universiti Sultan Zainal Abidin

Medical professionalism forms the basis of the relations between doctors and society. Researchers believe professionalism is extremely important in medicine to alleviate human errors. Professionalism is not inborn social characteristics. Intellects believe to safeguarding and upholding medical professionalism it is compulsory to include in medical curriculum. This study is aimed to compare the professionalism of future medical professionals between two private medical colleges in Bangladesh. Methods: The study was conducted at Gonoshashthaya Samajvittik Medical College (GSSVMC) and Enam Medical Colleges (EMC) in Bangladesh. It was a cross-sectional study carried out on 445 medical students of Year-III (127), Year-IV (205) and Year-V (113) MBBS students of session 2012-2013 selected conveniently from GSSVMC and EMC. Two hundred students were from GSSVMC and 245 were from EMC. Data was collected using a validated instrument which contained core professionalism characteristics measured by 5-points Likert scale giving a maximum score of 220 with few open-ended questions. Results: Response rate of this study was 76%; 48% respondents were male and 52% were female. Mean professionalism scores for Year-III, IV and V were 173, 175 and 189 and for male and female were 179 and 178 respectively. No significant differences observed between gender (p=0.679). Significant differences were observed between study-year (p<0.001) and also between total scores (p<0.001) 172 for GSSVMC and 183 for EMC. However, 43% students were not precise about professionalism. Conclusions: Educators should focus to increase awareness on core professionalism attributes.