Attributes of professionalism expected of a medical doctor in Sri Lanka

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: Professionalism is an essential competency for a doctor. OBJECTIVES: To identify the attributes of professionalism expected of a doctor in the Sri Lankan setting. METHOD: A two-round Delphi study was conducted online with the participation of 158 representatives of various stakeholders in healthcare. In the first round, participants outlined attributes of professionalism expected of a doctor in the local context. Through conventional content analysis, a list of attributes was compiled. These were rated by participants in round II. The most important attributes were identified by calculating the Content Validity Index (CVI) of responses. Kappa value was calculated to determine the adequacy of inter-rater agreement. RESULTS: In round I, 56 attributes of professionalism were identified. These items were compiled into a questionnaire with four distractors (i.e. misperceptions of professionalism) to minimize indiscriminate rating of items. In round II, 46 items received a CVI >0.78 (cutoff value to determine essential items). ‘Possessing adequate knowledge and skills’ received the highest CVI (0.99), followed by ‘displaying a sense of responsibility’ (0.98) and ‘being compassionate and caring’ (0.97). ‘Altruism’ and ‘socio-cultural sensitivity’ were not rated as important. Interestingly, one of the 4 distractors (‘stands for professional autonomy’) also received a CVI>0.78. The K-value was 0.77, indicating adequate inter-rater agreement. CONCLUSIONS: This study enabled the development of a prioritized list of professionalism related attributes expected of a doctor in Sri Lanka. The conceptualization of professionalism in the local healthcare context appears to have both commonalities and disparities with the rest of the world.