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Promise of Professionalism: Personal Mission Statements Among a National Cohort of Medical Students

¹ Division of General Internal Medicine, Department of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco, California
² Osher Center for Integrative Medicine, Department of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco, California
³ Institute for the Study of Health and Illness at Commonweal, and Department of Family and Community Medicine, University of California, San Francisco, California

CORRESPONDING AUTHOR: Michael W. Rabow, MD, UCSF/Mount Zion, 1701 Divisadero St. #500, San Francisco, CA 94143-1732, mrabow{at}medicine.ucsf.edu

PURPOSE While historic medical oaths and numerous contemporary medical organizations offer guidelines for professionalism, the nature of the professional aspirations, commitments, and values of current medical students is not well known. We sought to provide a thematic catalogue of individual mission statements written by medical students nationally.

METHODS In the Healer’s Art elective course, students write a personal mission statement about their highest professional values. In 2006–2007, we randomly selected 100 student mission statements from 10 representative schools nationally. Three researchers coded content using a team-based qualitative approach and categorized the codes into major themes. Student mission statements were compared with classic medical oaths and contemporary professionalism guidelines.

RESULTS The mission statements were similar across different schools. Three major themes emerged, comprised of codes identified in 20% or more of the mission statements. The first theme, professional skills, includes dealing with the negatives of training, listening and empathy, growth and development. The second theme, personal qualities, includes wholeness, humility, and constancy/perfectionism. The third theme, scope of professional practice, includes physician relationships, positive emotions, healing, service, spirituality, and balance. Unlike the content of classic oaths and contemporary professionalism statements, the students’ statements dealt with fears, personal-professional balance, love, nonhierachical relationships, self-care, healing, and awe as key to being a physician.

CONCLUSIONS In their personal mission statements, this national cohort of medical students described an expanded view of physicianhood that includes such elements as presence, love, and awe. Medical school curricula may require adaptation to support the personal aspirations of those now entering the profession.

Key Words: Education, medical • professionalism • humanism

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