PROFESSIONALISM WORKSHOP

What is Professionalism? What does Professionalism mean for doctors and others working in healthcare? The group will think of ideas and write them on the white board

Now we will discuss the Main Values within Professionalism

Honesty, Truth, & Honor Be truthful to patients Know your limitations in knowledge and skills Ask your colleagues for help when needed Are there any other ideas from the white board to add to this Main Value?

Altruism (Unselfishness) Create a policy for free treatment for poor patients Place the needs of patients before your own interests (for example, staying late to help manage a sick patient) Physicians and Nurses are underpaid, but continue to treat patients everyday Are there any other ideas from the white board to add to this Main Value?

Respect Explain the seriousness of the illness to patients and where care needs can be met Serve patients in their dialect Collaborate and work well with other team members Are there any other ideas from the white board to add to this Main Value?

Responsibility & Accountability Provide confidence to patients that they are receiving good care Build a relationship of trust between the doctors and the community Identify and improve patient satisfaction issues Evaluate skills and check the workplace to improve care Keep good patient health records Are there any other ideas from the white board to add to this Main Value?

Compassion & Empathy Be friendly, kind, polite, smiling Do not make patients feel bad about being ill Try to understand how illness affects the patient and their family Are there any other ideas from the white board to add to this Main Value?

Dedication & Self-Improvement Aim to be a 5-star doctor Be a self-directed learner for updating knowledge and learning teaching skills (Internet resources) Identify those not performing to standard and provide extra training and follow-up Identify where there is lack of knowledge about standards of care and provide knowledge Are there any other ideas from the white board to add to this Main Value?

Are there any other categories of Main Values of Professionalism that we should create from the examples on the white board?

Main ValuesCase #1Case #2Case #3Case #4Case #5Case #6 Honesty, Truth & Honor Unselfishness Respect Responsibility & Accountability Compassion & Empathy Dedication & Self- Improvement We will now hand out the chart containing the Main Values and add any categories that the group has come up with.

We will now take a 15 minute break

We will now break up into small groups (Group size of about 6 people)

Each group will review 2 of the following cases and think about which Main Values of Professionalism are important in the case. How can each case be managed to give a high level of professionalism? We will take minutes to work on the cases in the small groups

We will now reassemble as a large group and discuss each case We will write our observations about the cases on the white board

Case #1 One of the doctors you work with has not been doing very well lately. Over the past few months she has been working very hard. Then one of her patients died a month ago and it was not expected. She did not come to her clinic one day. She is losing weight and seems less confident at work. You worry she has depression. What should you do? What is your responsibility as a doctor and a friend in this situation? Who should you talk to about this? Should you talk directly to her, or should you talk with other people?

Case #2 A patient comes to your OPD at the district hospital with fever and chills, muscle pain and a rash. You have ordered some bloodwork and started treatment, but after one week the patient is having more pain and is now losing weight. You made a good list of what is possibly the diagnosis but the treatment is not helping. What do you do next? What do you tell the patient and his family?

Case #3 You go to see one of your patients in the hospital and notice there are no notes in their chart. The patient tells you that the nurse gave some medications and checked them for abdominal pain. You are unsure what medications were given and how the nurse helped with the abdominal pain. What do you do next? What should you say to the nurses you work with? Should you speak with anyone else about this?

Case #4 You are working in a district hospital and an ethnic minority patient arrives in active labor. She has not had any prenatal care. She has been pushing for three hours. Her family is very poor and do not have enough money to pay for medical care. It is hard to communicate because of the dialect. What are your responsibilities for this patient? You feel frustrated that she did not get prenatal care and has waited so long to come to hospital. What do you say to the patient and her family?

Case #5 You are the lead physician at your district hospital and have decided to evaluate how well your hospital is functioning. In terms of professionalism in the workplace, who would you like to hear from? How would you gather information? How would you change things?

Case #6 You decide to go and visit the health centers in your district. When you arrive at one of them, the doors are locked and the healthcare worker is not around. The villagers tell you that they do not go to the health center because many times it is not open when they need help. What do you do next? Who do you discuss this with? What do you tell the villagers?

Would anyone in the group like to share how they will use the Main Values of Professionalism in their medical practice and what benefits they hope to see?

Thank you for taking part in this workshop We would like your feedback about the workshop