Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-m6dg7 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-09T07:52:44.928Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Foreword by William M. Sullivan

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 September 2009

Richard L. Cruess
Affiliation:
McGill University, Montréal
Sylvia R. Cruess
Affiliation:
McGill University, Montréal
Yvonne Steinert
Affiliation:
McGill University, Montréal
Get access

Summary

This is a pioneering book. It brings together leading figures in both the theory and the practice of teaching professionalism in medicine. The volume's chapters provide a thorough and useful guide to one of the most important topics in medical education today: how to ensure that future physicians can meet the increased expectations the public now places on medicine. The key to securing medicine's future, the authors of the volume argue, lies in understanding, transmitting, and enhancing medical professionalism.

The public wants both better medical care and a profession more responsive to its needs. But most of all, people want competent and caring physicians who are committed to the healing of their patients. Nearly all of us will be patients. We will be vulnerable and in need of medical expertise. We will want the best prepared and most knowledgeable doctors we can find. But more than that, we will need to be able to trust that our physicians will be dedicated above all else to care for us with all their ability.

ADDRESSING THREATS TO THE INTEGRITY OF THE PRACTICE OF MEDICINE

Medicine as a profession is defined by its blending of expertise in healing with responsibility for patient care. Teaching professionalism, as the authors present it, directly addresses the formation of physicians who manifest this needed integration of expertise with dedication to the care of patients. They write this in full knowledge that medicine's integrity has for some time been under threat. Those threats to the integrity of medical practice are two.

Type
Chapter
Information
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2008

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×