Embracing Patient-Centered Professionalism

Power, professionalism, and patient advocacy.

A shift in the balance of power from patients and physicians to managers and administrators has caused major changes in American medicine. Physicians' professional and ethical standards as well as traditional patient advocacy are challenged by the influences of entrepreneurship, commercialism, and motivations of corporate profit. As these aspects of medical practice change, the physician remain...

Towards Patient-Centered Conflicts of Interest Policy

Financial conflicts of interest exist between industry and physicians, and these relationships have the power to influence physicians’ medical practice. Transparency about conflicts matters for ensuring adequate informed consent, controlling healthcare expenditure, and encouraging physicians’ reflection on professionalism. The US Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) launched the Open ...

#ILookLikeASurgeon: embracing diversity to improve patient outcomes.

Embracing the new professionalism: self-regulation, mandatory reporting and their discontents.

In response to perceived failures in medical self-regulation in Australia, first in two States (for doctors) and now under the National Registration and Accreditation Scheme (for all health practitioners), mandatory reporting of peer status or practice that poses risks to patients has been introduced. Yet now, in response to the lobbying of State and federal health ministers by the medical prof...

Patient perceptions of professionalism in dentistry.

The purpose of this study was to examine how patients perceived the professionalism of University of Minnesota School of Dentistry students, faculty, and staff. Professionalism is defined by the authors as an image that will promote a successful relationship with the patient. Patients within comprehensive care clinics were asked to assess physical attributes and behaviors of the dental care pro...