Professionalism in Psychiatry

Physicians and psychiatrists typically see themselves as true professionals.
But in the past, some displayed behavior far beneath the confines of
professionalism, including exploding at nurses, not returning calls, or
conducting insensitive interactions with patients, that was usually tolerated
and seldom disciplined. Today, the rise of professionalism in medicine in
general and psychiatry in particular has prompted a quiet revolution in how
doctors are trained and how they are expected to behave in the workplace. The
Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) has now advanced
professionalism to be one of the core competencies all emerging practitioners
must have.

While almost all physicians believe in professionalism, the
movement toward making it a core competency has challenged doctors everywhere to
accept the practice of monitoring, observing and assessing what is not always
welcome in a field where autonomy is so highly valued. In Professionalism in
Psychiatry, the authors identify and expand on professional behaviors, such as
being a good team player, being accountable, pursuing improvement in an ongoing
way, and behaving compassionately toward patients and families. The importance
of treating all co-workers with respect and of being attuned to the management
of healthcare resources in a way that reflects fairness and integrity is also
thoroughly reviewed. Important features of this book are: Tailoring
professionalism principles from medicine to the unique features of psychiatry in
order to enhance educators' teaching and improve the behaviors of psychiatrists
and residents in the work setting. Development of guidelines for
professionalism in cyberspace to provide psychiatrists with an ethical framework
for dealing with patients in the online realm. Discussion of the ethical
principles that apply when academic departments approach donors. Focus on
cultural competency and empathy in an effort to improve patient care through
greater understanding and sensitivity to ethnic, racial, gender and sexual
orientation issues encountered in clinical practice. Use of numerous clinical
examples to articulate the new professionalism in psychiatry, which illustrates
the importance of going beyond "one size fits all" thinking.

Professionalism in Psychiatry is an important contribution toward
beginning to characterize the ever-evolving professional behaviors and clinical
strategies of the contemporary psychiatrist and place them in a systematic
framework.