Examining Health Care Students’ Attitudes toward E-Professionalism

Objective. To compare pharmacy, osteopathic medicine, dental medicine, and physician assistant (PA) students’ perceptions of e-professionalism.Methods. A 20-item questionnaire was developed and administered to four cohorts of health care professions students early in their first professional year. The questionnaire contained 16 scenarios in which a hypothetical health care student or professional shared information or content electronically and students were asked to indicate how much they agreed that the scenario represented professional behavior.Results. Ninety-four percent of students completed the questionnaire. More female students were in the pharmacy and PA cohorts. There were statistical differences in students’ perceptions of e-professionalism in five of 16 scenarios. Specific differences were most often between the osteopathic medicine students and the other cohorts.Conclusions. The health care professions students surveyed had similar perceptions of e-professionalism. Of the four cohorts, osteo...