THE SOCIAL CONTRACT, PROFESSIONALISM, AND ITS ASSESSMENT: THE STRATEGY OF THE ABFM GOING FORWARD

Dear Editor,

Thank you for highlighting the importance of professionalism in the healthcare space in your recent article on "the societal contract, professionalism and its assessment"[1]. We fully support your stance to promote positive professionalism. As physicians, we embrace our role as key players in upholding the highest standards of professionalism in healthcare and recognize the changing landscape of the healthcare environment.

Healthcare is an evolving field and in 2020, we are serving an ever-changing population of immigrants, individuals with low English-speaking proficiency, women, the LGBQTI+ community, and we celebrate this diversity in society and the workforce. Given that we are renewing this social contract, it is imperative to emphasize the pivotal value of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) in upholding professionalism [2,3].

The role of physicians includes promoting equity, diversity and inclusion in various aspects of healthcare. This includes attunement to patients' unique needs such as literacy, communication, access to healthcare, financial burdens, gender identification and cultural sensitivities. However, inclusion is not only limited to the way we serve our patient population, but also extends to the way we approach each other in the work environment.

Aligned with the ABFM's goal, in this article, of recognizing the positive impact of professionalism on the entire community, we would like to highlight the essential roles of key players in the healthcare environment. Physicians function within organizations and therefore, it is crucial to have organizational support to fully implement positive professionalism. Organizational steps towards this goal can include the concept of DEI in different aspects of the workforce - from onset of recruitment (hiring people who represent the community) to retention, promotion, support in addition to community involvement.

ABFM's values of equity and diversity has been emphasized in the ABFM's strategic plan 2019-2025 (goal # 6 of promoting professionalism and the societal contract) [4]. Therefore, we believe, it is critical to include these themes of diversity, equity and inclusion in the renewed social contract and professionalism, moving forward.

Authors: Divya Singhal MD, Eman Ansari MD. Rheem Ghalib MD, Dana Corriel MD, Linda Girgis MD, Julie K Silver MD References

[1] Newton W, Conry C, Bortz B, Baxley EG. The social contract, professionalism, and its assessment: The strategy of the ABFM going forward. Ann Fam Med. 2020 Jan;18(1):85-86. doi: 10.1370/afm.2506.

[2] Egener BE, Mason DJ, McDonald, WJ, et al. The charter on professionalism for health care organizations. Acad Med. 2017;921091-1099.

[3] Silver JK, Cucurrullo S, Weiss LD, et al. The vital role of professionalism in physical medicine and rehabilitation. Am J Phys Med Rehabil. 2019 Oct 11. doi: 10.1097/PHM.0000000000001322. Epub ahead of print.

[4] https://www.theabfm.org/about. Strategic plan 2019-2025.

Authors: Divya Singhal MD (1), Eman Ansari MD (2), Rheem Ghalib MD (3), Dana Corriel MD (4), Linda Girgis MD (5), Julie K Silver MD (6)

(1) Department of Neurology, University of Oklahoma, Oklahoma City, OK (2) Department of Medicine, Boston Children's Hospital; Department of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA (3) Texas Clinical Research Institute, Dallas, TX (5) Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, New Brunswick, NJ (6) Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA

Competing interests: None declared