title: Professionalism in medical students at a private medical college in Karachi, Pakistan.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To determine levels of professionalism in undergraduate medical students at a private medical college and assess how changes emerge during their training.
  
  
  METHODS
  The study was conducted at Aga Khan University, a tertiary care teaching hospital, during November and December 2011. Freshmen, Year 3 and Year 5 students were requested to fill out a questionnaire. It was designed to assess the participants' levels of professionalism and how they perceived the professional environment around them by incorporating previously described scales. The questionnaire was re-validated on a random sample of practising clinicians at the same hospital. SPSS 17 was used for statistical analysis.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The study sample comprised 204 participants. The mean score for level of individual professionalism was 7.72+/-3.43. Only 13 (6.4%) students had a score one standard deviation above the faculty mean. About 24 (11.8%) were one standard deviation and 35 (17.2%) were 2 standard deviations below the faculty mean. The remaining 130 (63.7%) were >2 standard deviations below the faculty mean. Considering the level of education, the mean score for level of professionalism was 8.00+/-3.39 for freshmen, 6.85+/-3.41 for year 3 students, and 8.40+/-3.34 for year 5 students.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The currently employed teaching practices inculcating the values of professionalism in medical students are serving as a buffer to maintain the pre-training levels of professionalism from declining.
authors.affiliation: Research Associate, Aga Khan University, Karachi Pakistan. 8Universite de la Mediterranee, Faculte de Medecine, 27 Bid. Jean Moulin, Marseille, France.
authors.forename: Zain-ul-abedeen
authors.initials: ZU
authors.lastname: Sobani
authors.forename: Muhammad Masaud
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Mohyuddin
authors.forename: Fahd
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Farooq
authors.forename: Kanza Noor
authors.initials: KN
authors.lastname: Qaiser
authors.forename: Faiz
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Gani
authors.forename: Nida Shahab
authors.initials: NS
authors.lastname: Bham
authors.forename: Ahmed
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Raheem
authors.forename: Vikram
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Mehraj
authors.forename: Syed Abdul
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Saeed
authors.forename: Hasanat
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Sharif
authors.forename: Mughis
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sheerani
authors.forename: Rukhsana Wamiq
authors.initials: RW
authors.lastname: Zuberi
authors.forename: Mohamamd Asim
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Beg
mesh_terms: D004504:Education, Medical, Undergraduate / Q000592:standards*; D004522:Educational Status; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010154:Pakistan; D017149:Private Sector; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013337:Students, Medical / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014495:Universities; D055815:Young Adult