Progression to the Mean: Reconciling Traditional and Modern Professional Values in Medicine

Abstract

Medicine has historically been conceptualized as not simply an occupation but rather as a profession, one that entails both substantial privileges as well as significant responsibilities. In this article, the majority of whose authors are cardiologists serving on the American College of Cardiology Ethics Committee, we observe the evolution of professional values in Western medicine along a continuum shaped by both intrinsic and extrinsic forces with respect to the physician and the medical profession. Though a historically reactive process, we argue for a more proactive and anticipatory approach moving forward that reframes professionalism and what it means to be part of a profession, aiming to reconcile cross-generational professional values in the interest of advancing health and human flourishing. Rather than rejecting the power and privilege of our profession, thus leaving a vacuum to be filled by administrators and politicians, we should reclaim and repurpose it to provide better care and promote better outcomes.