Comparison of recommended sanctions for lapses in professionalism of undergraduate medical students in a Saudi Arabian and a Scottish medical school

Abstract

Background: Medical Professionalism is recognized as a cultural construct. We explore perceptions of the severity of lapses in professionalism of undergraduate medical students at two medical schools with different cultural contexts.

Methods: Respondents from two medical schools (Saudi Arabia & UK) recommended sanctions for the first time, unmitigated lapses in academic professionalism, using the Dundee Polyprofessionalism Inventory 1: Academic Integrity.

Results: While more than two-thirds of the recommended sanctions for the 30 items of poor professionalism were fully or nearly congruent among the 1125 respondents, there were substantial differences in recommended response for one-third of the items, with a strong tendency for the Saudi students to recommend more lenient sanctions than the Scottish students.

Conclusion: The strategy of using recommended sanctions as a proxy for the perception of the severity of different lapses in professionalism may be a useful tool in learning and teaching academic professionalism among medical students in different cultural contexts.

Acknowledgements

The authors wish to thank all the students who took part in answering the questionnaire and helped us identify the pertinent issues related to academic integrity.

Disclosure statement

The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of this article.

Funding

This project is self-funded.

Notes on contributors

Kamran Sattar, MBBS, PGD MedEd, FAcadMEd, Exam Organiser, Department of Medical Education, College of Medicine, King Saud University and a Masters student in the Centre for Medical Education, University of Dundee, Dundee, UK.

Sue Roff, BA Hons, MA, is a Part-Time Tutor in Centre for Medical Education, University of Dundee, Dundee, UK, and an Education Consultant.