What does professionalism mean to you?

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AAAmeds

AAAmeds

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Just wanted to see what you guys think of professionalism. How would you define it? Is there an objective definition or is it something subjective? stuff like that 🙂
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AAAmeds said:
Just wanted to see what you guys think of professionalism. How would you define it? Is there an objective definition or is it something subjective? stuff like that 🙂
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Med schools have a precise definition of what it includes, which varies from what a person in the general population would expect. Definitely research it before answering the question.
 
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Catalystik said:
Med schools have a precise definition of what it includes, which varies from what a person in the general population would expect. Definitely research it before answering the question.
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Not so sure that's universally true, considering ours asked us to define it for ourselves when we got here.
 
This is what I wrote for my successful application cycle. Please do not plagiarize it. No one would ever find out, but it would feel less rewarding when you get your acceptance:

Profesionalism to me mean that no matter how much u hate a patient, you dont give them a wicked roundhouse kick to the throat. Obviously most patients will mega piss me off, but as a professional I won't ever strangle them with their own catheter, no matter how much i want (trust me i volunteer in hospital, i want to allll the time). that's just the kind of doctor I want to be, that regardless how much murderous rage i feel In my heart, I dont let it out until I get home.
 
mehc012 said:
Not so sure that's universally true, considering ours asked us to define it for ourselves when we got here.
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Maybe your definition isn't precisely in accord with the original article published on the subject, but med students no longer qualify as members of the "general population." Your responses were colored by the active and passive clinical experiences you'd engaged in.
 
Not sexually harassing other people's girlfriends, telling the truth about going to clerkship, letting taxi drivers work in peace without throwing all their papers into the street, etc. You know, the straightforward things.
 
Once you get to medical school, you'll learn that professionalism is translated to mean, "We'll screw you for whatever it is we want to screw you for. Show up to class 30 seconds late? Marked. Do it again -->academic probation. Wrong color shorts + micro-aggression towards underserved populations during a pharmacology PBL session? We'll crap on your dean's letter; you'll spend the next 7 years doing A1c's and rectals in rural county."

The best part of waking up, is bull**** in your cup.
 
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Professionalism, as far as what is deemed professional or unprofessional, is arbitrarily defined from school to school, even from administrator to administrator within a school. "Professionalism" has become this over-used buzzword in today's environment of medical education, so much so that any act, behavior, or comment that a classmate may take issue with or allege to be a "microaggression" can become labeled as "unprofessional".
 
GoodWillShunting said:
Once you get to medical school, you'll learn that professionalism is translated to mean, "We'll screw you for whatever it is we want to screw you for. Show up to class 30 seconds late? Marked. Do it again -->academic probation. Wrong color shorts + micro-aggression towards underserved populations during a pharmacology PBL session? We'll crap on your dean's letter; you'll spend the next 7 years doing A1c's and rectals in rural county."

The best part of waking up, is bull**** in your cup.
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Tell us how you really feel.
 
GoodWillShunting said:
Once you get to medical school, you'll learn that professionalism is translated to mean, "We'll screw you for whatever it is we want to screw you for. Show up to class 30 seconds late? Marked. Do it again -->academic probation. Wrong color shorts + micro-aggression towards underserved populations during a pharmacology PBL session? We'll crap on your dean's letter; you'll spend the next 7 years doing A1c's and rectals in rural county."

The best part of waking up, is bull**** in your cup.
Click to expand...

You and I are seriously on the same exact wavelength. I was going to throw in a comment about bright-colored chinos on the wards, but left it out for the sake of brevity. Bravo friend, I think we will agree that we couldn't have said it better ourselves. It does not matter where you are for medical school - chances are you will feel that your administration is the worst one of them all, and hope for greener pastures in residency. My gut tells me that it's all bull**** everywhere, and the only true escape from it - private practice. Come, we shall walk together.
 
StrongIslandDoc said:
You and I are seriously on the same exact wavelength. I was going to throw in a comment about bright-colored chinos on the wards, but left it out for the sake of brevity. Bravo friend, I think we will agree that we couldn't have said it better ourselves. It does not matter where you are for medical school - chances are you will feel that your administration is the worst one of them all, and hope for greener pastures in residency. My gut tells me that it's all bull**** everywhere, and the only true escape from it - private practice. Come, we shall walk together.
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Hehe, when I saw your first post explaining it, I laughed, as almost verbatim, that's how I have explained professionalism to friends in the past. As arbitrary, and non-defined, which makes it so dangerous, as anything can be defined as "unprofessional". Good work.


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NotASerialKiller said:
This is what I wrote for my successful application cycle. Please do not plagiarize it. No one would ever find out, but it would feel less rewarding when you get your acceptance:

Profesionalism to me mean that no matter how much u hate a patient, you dont give them a wicked roundhouse kick to the throat. Obviously most patients will mega piss me off, but as a professional I won't ever strangle them with their own catheter, no matter how much i want (trust me i volunteer in hospital, i want to allll the time). that's just the kind of doctor I want to be, that regardless how much murderous rage i feel In my heart, I dont let it out until I get home.
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Actually laughed out loud :claps:
 
StrongIslandDoc said:
You and I are seriously on the same exact wavelength. I was going to throw in a comment about bright-colored chinos on the wards, but left it out for the sake of brevity. Bravo friend, I think we will agree that we couldn't have said it better ourselves. It does not matter where you are for medical school - chances are you will feel that your administration is the worst one of them all, and hope for greener pastures in residency. My gut tells me that it's all bull**** everywhere, and the only true escape from it - private practice. Come, we shall walk together.
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The bull**** doesn't end there, trust me
 
Crayola227 said:
The bull**** doesn't end there, trust me
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Come to surgery, where professionalism means only being one iota less caustic than your staff.

You just learn who your department hates (everyone) and yell at those people, then when you get written up you can have a good laugh about it with your PD.
 
Allowing the surgical attending to treat you like a b***h. "Hey medical student. Fetch me a cup of coffee with 2 sugars and 1 creamer." When you return, you will get that coffee spit on you, followed by "I f***king asked for 5 sugars. Want me to fall asleep while removing this diseased gallbladder?"

Having a goddamn smile on your face when you're being enthusiastically told: "Retract. I said RETRACT. Why can't you retract back flaps? A nursing student can do this better than you." This, while on no sleep and having other medical students and the entire OR staff look at you with pity.

Give a differential diagnosis to a patient that you have been studying for ALL WEEK just for him/her to say "yeah, that's great. But I want the DOCTOR to diagnose me." Then telling him/her "I will fetch the attending right away." BONUS: do this with a smile on your face. PASS THE CLERKSHIP: remain calm when he/she asks "why do they let high school volunteers to wear white coats around the hospital?"

You know? The little things.
 
mcatjelly said:
I distinctly remember UMD asking me this question on their secondary. Nice try. 😛
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UMD, do you mean Maryland? I'm from MD and am planning on applying next year.
 
Sitting in the back row of lecture wearing headphones due to mandatory attendance while watching Netflix. Going to labs but signing in and leaving. Always asking to leave early on rotations, or you can just make up conferences you're going to so you don't even have to show up!

When an attending, resident, or intern offers you a seat, take the seat, kick back, and put your feet up on the table. Ask if there's any noshes to nibble on.
 
It is the ism of our profession.
 
It's fun going through random threads in the school specific forums watching you ask us to answer secondaries for you. Nice to see you've spilled out into the main forums. Lol. Good luck, boo! Just write them!
 
"Professionalism is... and that is what I want." - Daivd Brent
 
andelJ94 said:
cool! When do you start? Here's hoping I end up class of 2022!
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Going elsewhere, actually. 🙂 Didn't get an interview there haha, I just remember answering their secondary. But I hope you do!!
 
Professionalism is knowing how to get away with being unprofessional
 
Professionalism is being funny enough that people won't get offended
 
Michael Scott and David Brent in the same thread


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