2009-The Physician of the Future English and Catalan

F UNDACIÓN E DUCACIÓN M ÉDICA (FEM) 48 1.10. Medical Professionalism under Dispute As a result of the above factors, some external and some related to the medical profession, a great deal of physicians currently sustain a devalued professional ideology, which likens their professional pro"le to that of any other occupational group, far removed from that of the committed professional ruled by strong ethical standards and an unwavering service vocation. Nowadays is not uncommon to "nd physicians who carry out their profession on a part-time basis, claiming their right to enjoy leisure and a balanced family and working life. Usually they are also uncomfortable with the commitment to self-regulation, to submit themselves to peer scrutiny and to be held socially accountable. Furthermore, it is common that when basic education and specialist training cycles are completed, the training process becomes discontinuous.Responsibility forprofessional development is transferred to the employer and therefore it becomes forgotten that this is a main component of the ethical commitments of the profession. In a context of dominant cultural egalitarianism, many physicians fail to comprehend the elitist element of the profession, seeing it as anundesirable trait rather than the result of a greater ethical and scienti"c commitment. Generally speaking, many doctors show little regard for their capacity to make their own decisions, their autonomy and responsibility as well as self-esteem, predisposing them to fall into the “ complaints culture” in which one blames others for one’s own shortcomings. With such a distorted view of the self and its environment, physicians come to disregard their professional associations, which, in turn, show no signs of the much needed leadership required. Neither party seems to understand the need to rede"ne the “ social contract” of the medical profession: the covenant upon which medicine satis"es social expectations and receives recognition through regulatory authorities. Hence present ambiguity, which, in turn, poses a serious threat to medicine’s legitimacy as a well di'erentiated profession.