Are medical professionals conscientious?

Article in Student BMJ about medical professionalism. It notes how professionalism is viewed differently by doctors, nurses and patients. A conscientiousness index has been proposed as a measure of professional behaviour in medical students.

This issue is complicated if medical students playing loud music or having a messy kitchen in halls are regarded as being unprofessional. In fact, doctors can be defensive about their income, style of practice, prestige, and power. It's actually the conscientious doctors that can be seen as different and difficult by their colleagues in this context.

The article mentions a roadshow to engage medical students in the issues round professionalism. This project by the King's Fund and others has already produced a report Understanding doctors.