Virtue ethics has long provided fruitful resources for the study of issues in medical ethics. In particular, study of the moral virtues of the good doctor-like kindness, fairness and good judgement-have provided insights into the nature of medical professionalism and the ethical demands on the medical practitioner as a moral person. Today, a substantial literature exists exploring the virtues i...

This paper revises an earlier taxonomy of equity models that was published in this journal in 1988. This revised taxonomy consists of three elements. First, it extends the original taxonomy by proposing a set of moral philosophies, positioning them as antecedents of the operational strategies that determine equity outcomes. Six are identified: Rawlsian, egalitarianism, benefit principle, utilit...

BACKGROUND Moral reasoning is important for developing medical professionalism but current evidence for the relationship between education and moral reasoning does not clearly apply to medical students. We used a combined study design to test the effect of clinical teaching on moral reasoning. METHODS We used the Defining Issues Test-2 as a measure of moral judgment, with 3 general moral sche...

This article builds on Mannion and Exworthy’s account of the tensions between standardization and customization within health services to explore why these tensions exist. It highlights the limitations of explanations which root them in an expression of managerialism versus professionalism and suggests that each logic is embedded in a set of ontological, epistemological and moral commitments wh...

This issue of JAMA marks the introduction of a new department: JAMA Professionalism. The goal of the articles in this section is to help physicians fulfill required competencies on this topic. According to the American Board of Medical Specialties definition, professionalism is “...a commitment to carrying out professional responsibilities, adherence to ethical principles and sensitivity to div...

Building a coherent discourse on professionalism is challenge for corporate social responsibility (CSR) practitioners, as there not yet an established knowledge basis CSR, and CSR contested notion that covers wide variety of issues moral foundations. Relying insights from the literature micro-CSR, new professionalism, Boltanski Thévenot’s (1991/2006) economies worth framework, we examine discou...

BACKGROUND Assessing orthopaedic surgery residency applicants is a complex process. One important applicant characteristic not commonly measured during the interview process is moral behavior, a key component of the guidelines of the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education for professionalism competency. We sought to determine whether a relationship exists between the results of re...

Professionalism is a core competency of physicians. In this article, the statements of professional societies (e.g., the Charter on Medical Professionalism), the expectations of patients and society regarding professionalism, and a framework for defining medical professionalism are described. The framework's foundation consists of clinical competence, communication skills, and a sound understan...

OBJECTIVE This article offers a brief discussion of the definition and importance of beneficence in the context of the chiropractic profession. DISCUSSION Beneficence is defined as an act of charity, mercy, and kindness with a strong connotation of doing good to others including moral obligation. All professionals have the foundational moral imperative of doing right. In the context of the pr...

Professionalism is a core competency of physicians. Clinical knowledge and skills (and their maintenance and improvement), good communication skills, and sound understanding of ethics constitute the foundation of professionalism. Rising from this foundation are behaviors and attributes of professionalism: accountability, altruism, excellence, and humanism, the capstone of which is professionali...