Abstract
Background: Medical professionalism is the ability to meet the relationship-centered expectations required to practice medicine competently. Professionalism is based on the principles of primacy of patient welfare, patient autonomy and social justice.
Objective of the study: To evaluate professionalism in family medicine residency program in Qatar.
Methods: A descriptive cross sectional study to assess professionalism in Family Medicine Program in Qatar. This study was conducted in Family Medicine Residency Program in Qatar. It included all residents in Family Medicine Residency Program. The sample size was 41 residents; all residents in the program at the time of the study in 2016-2017.
Results: Results show resident characteristics in which males represent 60% and females 40%; 55% were married, 7.5% have social problems and 17.5% see more than 20 patients per day. The overall professional domains giving appropriate scores in all the domains with total score 84.3+15.5 from 120, while self-assessment score was 31.8+6.2 from a total score of 40. The relation between resident characteristics and professional domains in the form of significant relations for gender, as males report high scores in excellence domain, residents in year four report high score in excellence, while residents in year three report high score in self-assessment and residents who see 10-20 patients per day report high score in altruism and self-assessment.
Conclusion: The current study revealed that family medicine residents are capable of consistently performing professionally across the domains of professionalism. However, the Excellence and Altruism domains are in need of improvement.