ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the social and historical aspects to professionalism, as well as shifting views and influences on how professionalism comes to be understood by the professions and by society as a whole. It considers issues relating to selection into medical programmes and some difficulties that arise when professionals cross national borders. Generational change is a more recently described phenomenon that captures the concept of societal changes in attitudes, beliefs and behaviours that occur over time, which roughly correlate with certain age groups. One almost perennial problem affecting medical education is finding ways to reduce serious professional problems and prevent them from occurring through improved processes of selection. Professionalism is now an integral part of medical curricula and assessment processes, and the subject is considered in selection processes at both basic, specialty levels of entry. Improvements in communication, increased public awareness and other societal changes have resulted in greater public understanding of both the importance of professionalism, constitutes poor professionalism.
