Professionalism in residents of physical medicine and rehabilitation in Iran

Abstract

Professionalism is the foundation of trust on which the doctor-patient relationship is built. This study was performed to measure professionalism in Iranian physical medicine and rehabilitation residents as a baseline assessment tool for future studies. This was a descriptive study. The Persian version of the American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM) questionnaire was distributed among all the second and third-year residents of the medical state universities of Iran (n=43). Data were summarized as mean (SD), and independent samples t-test was used for comparison of means between genders, and also between the second and third-year residents. Forty questionnaires were analyzed. The mean (± SD) age of respondents was 29.95 (± 2.37) years. The mean score (SD) for the overall score was 115.15 (± 17.36) out of 150, and the mean score (± SD) for all items was 7.67 (± 1.15) out of 10. The respondents averaged 5.88 (± 1.69) for items forming the �excellence� factor, 7.98 (± 1.48) for items in �altruism/respect� and 8.92 (± 1.26) for items in the �honor/integrity� subscale. These data may serve as a baseline for future research in this field. The lowest score pertained to excellence, which needs more focus in future studies. © 2015 Tannaz Ahadi et al.; licensee Tehran Univ. Med. Sci