Promoting Professionalism in the ACC
E. Magnus Ohman, MD: Hello. I'm Magnus Ohman for Duke in North Carolina, and welcome to another episode of the Life and Times of Leading Cardiologists. I'm very fortunate today to have a good friend, Dr Pat O'Gara, former president of the American College of Cardiology, professor of medicine at Harvard, with us today. Welcome, Pat.
Patrick T. O'Gara, MD: Thanks very much, Magnus. I appreciate it.
Dr Ohman: Most people who went to the American College meeting this year said, "Wow, we haven't focused on professionalism and what an important aspect this is to being a doctor before." How did the topic of professionalism come up at the meeting?
Dr O'Gara: That's a very interesting question. I think that it came up in two ways. One was that the College actually performed a historical review and recognized that it has not officially ratified the Articles of Professionalism[1]that had been published by the American College of Physicians and the American Board of Internal Medicine Foundation more than 10 years ago. I think that was a very impactful white paper that was put out by those groups as well as a primary care group and a group from Europe with respect to the essentials of professionalism in the medical field.
