Chapter 4 - The Facets of Digital Health Professionalism: Defining a Framework for Discourse and Change

Abstract

The descriptions of what it means to be a professional provide an overarching set of moralistic principles guiding the role of professionalism. Identifying what those principles look like in practice is much more difficult to peg down. Add to this discourse the idea of professional digital behavior, and the waters become even further muddied. The question of what professional behavior looks like in digital environments is paramount to understanding how the health professions address digital media participation. We know what unprofessional digital behavior is when we see it but how to directly and specifically address the topic in a cohesive manner, as a preemptive measure remains unclear. Scholars in this area agree on many points, but there currently is a lack of common and cohesive characterization of digital professionalism as it pertains to the health professions. This chapter aims to explore the common emergent themes from the literature and to define the various facets of digital professionalism and how they impact clinical practice, teaching, and learning in the digital age.