Professionalism-training in undergraduate medical education in a multi-cultural, multi-ethnic setting in the Gulf Region: an exploration of reflective essays

Background Despite the established need to prioritize professionalism-training in developing future physicians, very few medical programs in the Gulf Region embed in their curricula discrete contextualized courses aimed at developing the corresponding competencies, while fostering self-directed learning. This study aims at exploring the perception of undergraduate medical students in a multi-cultural, multi-ethnic setting regarding their understanding of, and personal experience with professionalism through their engagement with the content of an innovative curriculum-based professionalism course, offered at a Medical School in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Methods The study used a qualitative phenomenological research design. Out of 33 students, 29 students had submitted reflective essays. The content of these essays was inductively analyzed following a six-step framework for conducting thematic analysis. The framework’s steps include familiarizing oneself with the data, generating initial codes, searching for themes, reviewing themes, defining and naming themes, and producing the report. Findings The inductive qualitative analysis generated the Professionalism Learning Journey model. This conceptual model includes four interconnected themes: Awareness, Acknowledgement, Realization, and Application. The generated model depicts the trajectory that the learners appear to experience while they are engaging with the content of the course. Conclusion Integrating a professionalism-training course into an undergraduate medical curriculum is likely to be positively appraised by the learners. It raises their awareness, enables them to value the subject matter and the sophistication of its application, and empowers them to put into practice the taught principles, on an individual basis and collectively. This is especially true when the course is entrenched in constructivism experiential learning theory and designed to foster self-directed learning. The introduced conceptual model, in conjunction with the innovative professionalism-training course curriculum, can serve as a template for other competencies and other schools.