Social accountability in medical schools versus corporate social responsibility in businesses

Kalyani Premkumar,Anurag Saxena,James Premkumar

doi:10.15694/mep.2017.000102

Abstract

This article was migrated. The article was not marked as recommended. Social accountability and social responsibility are key concepts in the world of healthcare and businesses respectively, and are often used interchangeably. Despite the similarity in meaning in English dictionaries, the definition, perception, and implementation of the two concepts are markedly different. In this article, we address the commonalities and differences to enable health professionals to address and utilize both concepts in an appropriate manner.

Highlights

Social accountability (SA) and corporate social responsibility (CSR) are two well-known key concepts in healthcare and business respectively
The SA and CSR may be perceived as similar concepts when taking the dictionary definition into consideration
In the worlds of medical schools and businesses, they are different and comparison of SA and CSR is like comparing apples to oranges

Summary

Introduction

Social accountability (SA) and corporate social responsibility (CSR) are two well-known key concepts in healthcare and business respectively. The Steering Committee on Social Accountability, Health Canada, has come up with a vision for Canadian Medical Schools(Health Canada, 2001) under the umbrella of education, research and service, with a set of principles that emphasize competencies of faculty and students in patient care, patient-physician relationship and professionalism. It includes awareness of community needs; promotion of research to provide evidence-based care; and working with other healthcare stakeholders to develop a shared vision for sustainable health care systems. The well known plan, do, check, act (PDCA) model provides an implementation model for CSR, involving CSR assessment and development of CSR strategy followed by development and implementation of CSR commitments, reporting on progress and evaluating performance(Hohnen, 2007)

Conclusion

Findings

Notes On Contributors