Learning health professionalism at Makerere University: an exploratory study amongst undergraduate students
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Date
2010
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
BMC medical education
Abstract
Anecdotal evidence shows that unprofessional conduct is becoming a common occurrence amongst
health workers in Uganda. The development of appropriate professional values, attitudes and behaviors is a
continuum that starts when a student joins a health professional training institution and as such health
professionals in training need to be exposed to the essence of professionalism. We sought to explore
undergraduate health professions students’ perceptions and experiences of learning professionalism as a
preliminary step in addressing the problem of unprofessional conduct amongst health workers in Uganda.
Methods: Eight focus group discussions were conducted with 49 first to fifth year health professions
undergraduate students of the 2008/2009 academic year at Makerere University College of Health Sciences. The
focus group discussions were recorded and transcribed, and were analyzed using content analysis with emergent
coding.
Results: The difference in the way first and fifth year students of Makerere University College of Health Sciences
conceptualized professionalism was suggestive of the decline in attitude that occurs during medical education. The
formal curriculum was described as being inadequate while the hidden and informal curricula were found to play
a critical role in learning professionalism. Students identified role models as being essential to the development of
professionalism and emphasized the need for appropriate role modeling. In our setting, resource constraints
present an important, additional challenge to learning universal standards of health professionalism. Furthermore,
students described practices that reflect the cultural concept of communalism, which conflicts with the universally
accepted standard of individual medical confidentiality. The students questioned the universal applicability of
internationally accepted standards of professionalism.
Description
Keywords
Learning, health professionalism, Makerere University, undergraduate students
Citation
Baingana, R. K., Nakasujja, N., Galukande, M., Omona, K., Mafigiri, D. K., & Sewankambo, N. K. (2010). Learning health professionalism at Makerere University: an exploratory study amongst undergraduate students. BMC medical education, 10(1), 1-10.