Professionalism

• Joseph Ochieng
 Professionalism
• A profession is a vocation founded on specialized
training and skills acquisition and a formalized
licensure process
• A professional is a person who is paid to undertake
a specialized set of tasks and to complete them for
a fee
• The traditional professions were doctors, lawyers,
clergymen, and commissioned military officers

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 Professionalism…

• Health professionals have a fiduciary duty toward

those they serve
• Health professionals have a stringent duty to assure
that their decisions and actions serve the welfare of
their patients/clients, even at some cost to
themselves.

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 Marks of a profession
• Competence in a specialized body of knowledge
and skill;
• An acknowledgment of specific duties and
responsibilities toward the individuals it serves and
toward society;
• The right to train, admit, discipline and dismiss its
members for failure to sustain competence or
observe the duties and responsibilities

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Fundamental Principles of Professionalism
in Medical Practice
• (1) the primacy of patient welfare;
• (2) patient autonomy;
• (3) social justice
• Professional responsibilities that follow from these
principles are commitment to competence, to honesty
with patients, to confidentiality, to appropriate
relationship with patients, to improving quality of care,
to improving access to care, to a just distribution of
finite resource, to scientific knowledge, to maintaining
trust by managing conflicts of interests and to
professional responsibilities.
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 Obligations and values of a professional

• Altruism: a health professional is obligated to attend

to the best interest of patients/clients, rather than
self-interest
• Accountability: Health professionals are accountable
to their patients/clients, to society on issues of
public health, and to their profession
• Excellence: Professionals are obligated to make a
commitment to life-long learning

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 Obligations cont…
• Duty: Health professionals should be available and
responsive when on call, accepting a commitment to
service within the profession and the community

• Honor and integrity: Health professionals should be

committed to being fair, truthful and straightforward in
their interactions with patients/clients and the
profession

• Respect for others: demonstrate respect for

patients/clients and their families and other team
members
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 Other duties
• Independent judgment about technical matters
relevant to the expertise of the profession

• Need to consult with colleagues where you are not

sure or not an expert

• Sharing new information with colleagues to help

improve management of patients/clients
• Contribute to generation of new knowlege through
research
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 Professional misconduct
• Focusing on money with disregard for patient welfare
• Failure to attend to patients’ interest
• None responsive to duty and or negligence
• Incompetence
• Lack of respect for patients and research participants
• Lack of respect to colleagues
• Conflict of commitment
• Engagement in criminal activities during clinical
practice
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 Conclusion

• The application of ethical principles needs to take into account of

cultural values while respecting absolutely the ethical standards

• A responsible clinician should uphold the ethical principles,

professional standards and moral values during their practice

• Good moral judgment to a great extent depends on character rather

than principles

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 References
• Uganda patients charter; MOH
• Code ethics for health care professionals in
Uganda

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• THNKS

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