Professionalism

Professionalism is a goal we all aspire to and struggle with daily as we work to deliver the safest, most effective, and ethical care to our patients. No one is absolutely professional or unprofessional. Defining the professionalism goal and the elements in the goal is important. Our individual practices, institutions, and professional organizations need to keep professionalism in our constant view. We need to serve as good professional and humanistic role models for trainees, for each other, and, most of all, for our patients and their families. By consensus: • Professionalism is a concept important to our work as pediatricians. • National organizations have stressed the importance of rekindling our dedication to professionalism. • Professionalism can be taught and assessed. • Lapses in professionalism take many forms and are caused by many factors. • Recent interest in physician burnout draws attention to the impact of burnout on professionalism, among other consequences. Copyright © 2020 by the American Academy of Pediatrics. All rights reserved.