STUDENTS' CORNER ORIGINAL ARTICLE Professionalism in medical students at a private medical college in Karachi, Pakistan

Abstract Objective: To determine levels of professionalism in undergraduate medical students at a private medical collegeand assess how changes emerge during their training. Methods: The study was conducted at Aga Khan University, a tertiary care teaching hospital, during November andDecember 2011. Freshmen, Year 3 and Year 5 students were requested to fill out a questionnaire. It was designed toassess the participants' levels of professionalism and how they perceived the professional environment aroundthem by incorporating previously described scales. The questionnaire was re-validated on a random sample ofpractising clinicians at the same hospital. SPSS 17 was used for statistical analysis. Results: The study sample comprised 204 participants. The mean score for level of individual professionalismwas 7.72±3.43. Only 13 (6.4%) students had a score one standard deviation above the faculty mean. About 24(11.8%) were one standard deviation and 35 (17.2%) were 2 standard deviations below the faculty mean. Theremaining 130 (63.7%) were >2 standard deviations below the faculty mean. Considering the level of education,the mean score for level of professionalism was 8.00±3.39 for freshmen, 6.85±3.41 for year 3 students, and8.40±3.34 for year 5 students.