Assessment of professionalism in students of health-related courses: a systematic review

Professionalism has been intensely debated in the last decade on the global stage and especially in the USA, and has been recognized as a skill that should be developed by all health professionals.

Objective  The aim of the present study was to assess professionalism among graduates of health-related courses on a worldwide scale.

Methods  Systematic review following the recommendations of the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA).

Results  The review found seven studies that included an assessment of professionalism. Of these seven articles, two were close to the levels of “Knows” and “Knows how” on Miller’s adapted pyramid for assessing professionalism. The other five studies were more related to the levels of “Shows” and “Does”, demonstrating a practical dimension for the assessment. Evaluating professionalism is a great challenge. Further studies are required to measure other, more global aspects of professionalism.

Professionalism; Teaching and learning; Assessment