Exploring the climates of undergraduate professionalism in a Saudi and a UK medical school

Abstract

Aim: To explore the usefulness of an online inventory for tracking medical students’ understanding of the importance of lapses in academic integrity.

Method: Respondents were asked to recommend sanctions for lapses as a proxy of their understanding of the importance of the 34 types of poor professionalism.

Results: The data suggest that while there is congruence, there are also substantial differences between ratings of the importance of poor professionalism, particularly in relation to data integrity, between a cohort in Saudi Arabia and one in the UK.

Conclusion: This resource may be useful both for teaching and learning in individual schools, and particularly for the induction of doctors into organisational environments different from the one they were trained in.

Disclosure statement

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

Notes on contributors

Salman Y. Guraya, FRCS, M.Med. Ed, is Professor of surgery and consultant colorectal surgeon at the College of Medicine, Taibah University, Almadinah Almunawwarah Saudi Arabia.

Robert I. Norman, BSc., PhD, is Academic Director at the College of Medicine, Biological Sciences and Psychology, University of Leicester, UK.

Sue Roff, MA, is Education Consultant and part-time tutor in the Centre for Medical Education, Dundee Medical School Scotland.