title: Assessment of matriculating medical students' knowledge and attitudes towards professionalism.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Students' perceptions of traditional attributes of professionalism are important for understanding their professional development needs, and determining appropriate curricular initiatives and assessment methods.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  This study assessed the knowledge and attitudes towards professionalism of three classes of matriculating students at two institutions.
  
  
  METHODS
  Subjects completed four instruments: a multiple-choice test and a clinical scenario instrument assessed knowledge; and a semantic differential scale and Likert-format statement instrument assessed attitudes. Items reflected traditional professionalism attributes. Factor analysis identified scales and descriptive statistics were computed for each scale.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Six hundred and forty six students (82%) completed the instruments. Correlations among scales were low to moderate. Knowledge scores were highest for the attributes 'humanism' and 'professional responsibility' and lowest for the attribute 'professional commitment'. Attitude scores were highest for 'humanistic values' and lowest for 'subordinating self-interests'.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Results indicate students' attitudes are positive about several of the attributes associated with traditional professionalism definitions; however, there were cases where students' knowledge and attitudes towards professionalism appear incongruent with traditional definitions. Further development of self-assessments of knowledge and attitudes towards professionalism are suggested.
authors.affiliation: Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, SC 29425, USA. blueav@musc.edu
authors.forename: Amy V
authors.initials: AV
authors.lastname: Blue
authors.forename: Sonia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Crandall
authors.forename: George
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Nowacek
authors.forename: Richard
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Luecht
authors.forename: Sheila
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Chauvin
authors.forename: Herbert
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Swick
mesh_terms: D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D004989:Ethics; D006808:Humanism; D006801:Humans; D019359:Knowledge; D010819:Physician's Role; D013337:Students, Medical / Q000523:psychology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires