Moving beyond nostalgia and motives: towards a complexity science view of medical professionalism.
Modern-day discourse on medical professionalism has largely been dominated by a "nostalgic" view, emphasizing individual motives and behaviors. Shaped by a defining conflict between commercialism and professionalism, this discourse has unfolded through a series of waves, the first four of which are discovery, definition, assessment, and institutionalization. They have unfolded in a series of highly interactive and overlapping sequences that extend into the present. The fifth wave-linking structure and agency-which is nascent, proposes to shift our focus on professionalism from changing individuals to modifying the underlying structural and environmental forces that shape social actors and actions. The sixth wave-complexity science-is more incubatory in nature and seeks to recast social actors, social structures, and environmental factors as interactive, adaptive, and interdependent. Moving towards such a framing is necessary if medicine is to effectively reestablish professionalism as a core principle.
Hafferty
Frederic W
FW
Department of Behavior Sciences, University of Minnesota Medical School-Duluth, Duluth, MN 55812, USA. fhaffert@d.umn.edu
Levinson
Dana
D
D006801:Humans; D010819:Physician's Role; D011364:Professional Practice / Q000639:trends