Nicholas Phillips and Marina Politis question whether the concept of professionalism is always representative of today's medical workforce
Professionalism is a term that most healthcare professionals are familiar with, but defining it can be challenging and often varies by context and person. In recent years, there’s been growing awareness of how the concept of “professionalism” can be exploited to maintain the status quo, perpetuating a regressive norm of who a doctor should be, rather than benchmarking the standards they should follow while practising medicine. These biases can lead to the policing of people's individuality, harming the workforce, and entrenching inequalities and attainment gaps.
When medical students or doctors are told to subscribe to certain norms under the pretext of professionalism, or are accused of being unprofessional for deviating from someone else's cookie cutter ideal, it can feel like we're being held to ransom by outdated ideas of who a doctor is.
The expectation that medics should fit a narrow professional mould can pressure them to change how they present characteristics associated with their sexuality, ethnicity, or gender—or else risk being labelled unprofessional.