Until recent years, the subject of professionalism was not addressed formally in the medical curriculum. Students became professionals without being aware of it, with the assumption being that they patterned their behavior on that of respected role models. It was only when both society and the profession came to believe that medicine's professionalism had been eroded by forces arising both inside and outside of the medical profession that it was deemed necessary to teach professionalism as a distinct subject, something that is now required by accrediting and certifying bodies. Without question professionalism can be taught and learned in many different educational settings, using a variety of pedagogic tools and methods. However, as faculties of medicine have gained experience in teaching professionalism, common threads have emerged. It has become possible to outline a series of principles that can guide the actions of those designing, implementing, and administering programs aimed at promoting the acquisition of knowledge about professionalism and the behaviors characteristic of a professional. It is the goal of this chapter to outline these principles.

Any set of principles must be compatible with the complex nature of the medical curriculum through which individuals become transformed from members of the lay public into skilled professionals. There has not always been unanimity of opinion on how best to organize the teaching of professionalism. In part, this relates to individual and institutional approaches to the issue, with two schools of thought being predominant.