Barriers and Solutions to Reclaiming Professionalism

Description : Session Format: Four-Part Discussion (10 minutes each)

1) Evolving Concept of Professionalism in Medicine (Brad Barth)
• Overview of professionalism as a foundational competency in medical education.
• How AΩA has been at the forefront of professionalism research and discussion, and what they have done to advance professionalism in the field.

2) Systems Perspective: The Environment of Healthcare Challenges Professionalism and Contributes to Moral Injury (Wendy Dean)
• Discussion of the ties between professionalism and moral injury.
• How the landscape of medicine has come to prioritize profitability; its implications for clinical practice and care work; and how reclaiming professionalism is foundational to preventing and mitigating moral injury.

3) Clinician Perspective: Insights from ABFM Interviews (Annie Koempel)
• Key findings from in-depth interviews with ABFM diplomates on their understandings and lived experiences of professionalism.
• Implications for both systems change and integration into medical education.

4) Education: ABFM’s Priorities and Actions on Professionalism (Andrea Anderson)
• ABFM’s efforts to integrate professionalism into certification and physician development.
• Current and future research directions on professionalism as a measurable competency.
• Opportunities for collaboration with ABMS and other certifying boards to strengthen professionalism within competency-based assessment frameworks.

Conclusion and audience feedback: This session will foster discussion on barriers to professionalism and how ABMS, ABFM, AΩA, and the broader medical community can reclaim and support professionalism as a core element of physician identity and practice.

Closing Plenary: Creating a Safer, Kinder Healthcare System: Addressing Moral Injury Together

This session will highlight the data behind moral injury but is designed to empower doctors and nurses to leverage their power to create change. Drs. Wendy Dean and Kathleen Reeves will discuss the history of moral injury with recognition that although it is likely inevitable to experience it over the course of a healthcare career, there are tangible tools and resources available to begin to provide solutions and facilitate change. To foster healthy personal and professional identity, and to create a healthcare environment that is kind, safe, and trustworthy for our patients we must be reminded to approach the topic of moral injury with a sense of agency and urgency.

ISSUES PANEL

Reframing Distress: What You Need to Know and What We All Need to Do

Moderator:

Jessica Wallaert MD

Panelists:

Wendy Dean, MD CEO & Co-founder The Moral Injury of Healthcare

Matthew Ramsey, MD Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery, Sidney Kimmel Medical College at Thomas Jefferson University

Reframing Distress: Why Moral Injury Matters

Healers make a promise, when entering their profession, to put their patients’ needs first. That promise is ever harder to keep in today’s corporatized healthcare environments. Learn what moral injury is, what drives it, and how – together – we can stand up for better.

(Participation is limited to women who are members of PA Medical Society)