ABOS Professionalism
The American Board of Orthopaedic Surgery’s guidelines on Professional Behavior, Respect, Compassion, and Responsibility are listed below. Professionalism is demonstrated in practice through behaviors, attitudes, and conduct that reflect responsibility and accountability for care of patients, colleagues, and our profession, including:
- Conduct: Behavior and attitude that are respectful, compassionate, honest, and demonstrate integrity in interactions with patients, other professionals, healthcare systems, and payers.
- Privacy: Respect for and commitment to honoring patients’ rights regarding their medical and surgical care, including shared decision-making and the right to privacy.
- Compassionate Care: Empathy and compassion in addressing the needs of the patient and their family, while maintaining appropriate doctor-patient relationships. This includes awareness of one’s own personal implicit biases.
- Communication: Honesty and integrity in communication and interaction with patients, placing patient well-being foremost when disclosing information and recommending treatment. Optimizing communication with other healthcare professionals–particularly direct physician-to-physician communication–to enhance the quality and timeliness of care.
- Respect: Adherence to appropriate professional standards when critiquing care provided by previous health care professionals. Acceptance of responsibility for one’s own actions. Respect for the opinions of others, and the ability to provide and accept constructive, objective criticism in the delivery of medical care and education.
- Social Contract: Fulfillment of the obligations of the medical profession inherent in the social contract, including providing care for ill or injured patients regardless of personal characteristics or socioeconomic factors, and being available and responsible for time-sensitive patient care issues. The surgeon’s skills should serve and meet the needs of society.
- Integrity: Demonstration of integrity in interactions with other professionals in the medical, legal, and governmental community. Honesty in providing expert testimony, consulting, royalty and speaking agreements, media presentations, research, and publications.
- Stewardship: Recognition of the surgeon’s responsibility to manage the resources, trust, knowledge, and future of the profession. Surgeons should strive to be good stewards of limited resources and serve as mentors, educators, researchers, and volunteers within our professional and personal communities. This includes a commitment to life-long learning.
- Wellness: Commitment to personal and team well-being, recognizing that caring for oneself is essential to providing the highest quality of care for the public.
