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Professional behaviour of doctors: are we meeting the criteria?
| Content Provider | Semantic Scholar |
|---|---|
| Author | Gadit, Amin A. Muhammad |
| Copyright Year | 2007 |
| Abstract | Of late, assessment of professional behavior among doctors has become an essential tool for evaluation in terms of 'fitness to practice'. The Postgraduate Medical and Training Board (PMETB) of UK while assessing an application under their article 14 pays strong emphasis on this aspect through the structured reference reports.1 Professional behavior would include; respect for others, commitment to quality, responsibility and personal integrity.2 An assessment proforma designed by the Bristol Medical School for students include the point 'respect for other members of the health care team' as an important item in the check list.3 It is essential that medical colleagues treat each other with respect and courtesy while fulfilling other criteria of professionalism. Bullying and harassment among medical colleagues has been recognized to have reached alarming proportion in Pakistan which is against the code of conduct and human rights.4 The General Medical Council (GMC) in its document on Good Medical Practice (2006)5 under the caption of 'Working with the colleagues' has clearly mentioned in the exact words as "you must treat your colleagues fairly and with respect, not bully or harass them, or unfairly discriminate against them by allowing your personal views to affect adversely your professional relationship with them, never make malicious and unfounded criticisms of colleagues that may undermine patients' trust in the care or treatment they receive, or in the judgement of those treating them". Even from the ethical point of view, the 'Oath of Hippocrates' which is a professional pledge of ethical behavior compels the physicians to abide by a code of conduct in this respect.6 According to the 'Declaration of Geneva6 in exact words "I will maintain by all the means in my power, the honour and the noble traditions of the medical profession and my colleagues will be my brothers and sisters". With these codes and guidelines in perspective, why it is so that prevalence of such behaviour is in evidence? Pakistan is a developing country with strict religious adherence and obligation to follow the moral teachings. It is surprising therefore that the professional jealousy and issues like harassment and bullying are visible and that too among the medical fraternity.4 The total number of doctors in Pakistan is 132466 of which 19613 are registered as specialists.7 Individual professional jealousy and subsequent harassment and bullying have been reported more often among the specialists that is evidenced by an unofficial report.8 It appears that medical professionals have involved themselves in issues which are secondary to the main health care delivery service. The only regulatory body, the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC) in line with other regulatory bodies of the world, emphasizes on professional behaviour as "a physician should behave towards his/her colleagues as he/she would have them behave towards him/her". The PMDC also advises the physicians not to engage themselves in harassment of any person including his/her own colleagues.9 With all these directions in place and promotion of medical ethics by some of the institutions, the ground reality is however, different.4 There has been severe criticism among colleagues for their |
| File Format | PDF HTM / HTML |
| PubMed reference number | 17902531 |
| Journal | Medline |
| Volume Number | 57 |
| Issue Number | 8 |
| Alternate Webpage(s) | http://jpma.org.pk/PdfDownload/1190.pdf |
| Journal | JPMA. The Journal of the Pakistan Medical Association |
| Language | English |
| Access Restriction | Open |
| Content Type | Text |
| Resource Type | Notice |
