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Home2026 December Abstracts

Professionalism:
Creating a Shared Framework Across Cultures, Education, and Practice


Wednesday, December 2 and Thursday, December 3, 2026, 8:00 am ET - 1:00 pm ET daily via Zoom
Professionalism is fundamental to high-quality healthcare. Recognized as a core competency across the health professions, it shapes the trust that underpins relationships with patients, colleagues, institutions, and society. Breaches of professionalism can have significant consequences for all stakeholders. Yet, despite its central importance, professionalism remains difficult to define consistently. Expectations for professional behaviors are influenced by culture, generations, profession, specialty, practice setting, legal frameworks, and societal norms. While some boundaries are widely recognized, many are nuanced, contextual, and open to interpretation.

Healthcare serves multiple stakeholders—including patients, learners, practitioners, educators, organizations, policymakers, and society—and each may hold different perspectives on what constitutes professional values and behavior. This conference invites participants to examine professionalism through diverse lenses, explore areas of consensus and difference, and consider whether a shared framework can guide education, assessment, clinical practice, and professional development across healthcare professions and practice settings.

Click here to submit your abstract.
Submission Requirements
  • We welcome submissions related to Education, Clinical Care, Public Health and Bioethics.
  • We aim for highly interactive sessions that relate to the conference theme and advance the field in general.
  • You can be a first author/presenter for one abstract only.
  • The committee reserves the right to make adjustments to the session type.
  • All presenters must agree to the following terms:
    • All sessions will be recorded and will be posted online after the conference.
    • All presenters are required to register and pay for the conference.
      • APHC Members $150 (early bird fee $100)
      • Non-Members $200 (early bird fee $150)
      • Post-Graduate Trainees $35
      • Students $20
Click here to submit your abstract.
The conference themes related to professionalism and change include, but are not limited to:
  • Professionalism definitions in different healthcare professions
  • If we can’t agree on what professionalism is – can we teach or assess it?
  • Professionalism viewpoints, vision and values aiming for common ground 
  • Teaching professionalism through role models and the hidden curriculum – educational strategies that work
  • Diverse patient populations – a need for local standards or flexibility
  • Are professionalism concepts miles apart or does it just seem that way?
  • Professional values portrayed in the visual arts
  • Professional values – how aligned do they need to be with personal values?
  • Professionalism value changes across a career
Please select among the following session types and follow the submission instructions:
  • Panel Discussion - 3-4 presenters briefly share their perspectives on a specific topic. A moderator facilitates the discussion among the panelists as well as with the participants. Example: Professionalism in Healthcare:  Preaching, Practicing and Policing.
  • Round Table - 2-3 individuals facilitate the sharing of ideas or resources. Example: Professional Responses towards Misinformation in the Media.
  • How-to Workshop - 2-4 presenters engage participants in highly interactive skills building activities using a variety of instructional tools. Example: How to Manage a Team with Mis-aligned Professional Values.
  • Problem Solving Session - 2-4 presenters engage participants in small and large group discussion activities to arrive at some potential solutions for a pressing problem. Cases or specific questions are provided to stimulate multiple solutions. Example: Students versus Faculty Professionalism Values – How can they be Harmonized?
  • Debate - Facilitated by a moderator, 2 individuals take opposite sides of a question.  After a discussion with the participants, final opinions are elicited via a poll.  Example: Do Professionalism Standards Need an Expiration Date?
  • Educational Game - 2-3 presenters engage the participants in an educational game that addresses professionalism issues. The session is summarized with audience-generated learning gains. Example: Strategies for Teaching about Professional Values – A Matching Game.
  • Oral Presentation - 1-2 presenters describe their or their group’s research, theoretical work or educational innovation in 10 minutes using slides and other audio-visual aids. This is followed by 5 minutes of Q&As. Presentations are grouped by theme and additional audience discussion time is built in at the end. Example: Societal Professionalism Expectations – A Historical Review.
  • Flash Presentation Recording - 1-2 individuals show a succinct 5-minute recorded presentation of their or their group’s research, educational innovation or theoretical work followed by real-time 5 minutes of Q&A. Example: Professionalism Values in the Emergency Department versus the Operating Room – A Focus Group Study.
Multiple peer reviewers will judge the abstracts based on their fit with the conference theme or their general contribution to the advancement of the study, practice or teaching of professionalism. Inclusivity, creativity, scholarship and level of participant involvement will also be key considerations. We encourage the full use of virtual interaction tools such as breakout rooms, polling and annotations.

Below are the specific abstract requirements for each of the presentation types. The conference committee reserves the right to propose presentation type changes.

Guidelines for each Presentation Type:
Proposal Submission Deadline: Monday, September 7, 2026


Presentation Type

(select one)

 Submission Requirements
  • Panel Discussion (60 min)
  • Informative but short title (10 words maximum)
  • 2-sentence session summary
  • Theme designation
  • Abstract (150 words maximum): What is the focus of the session? How does it relate to the conference theme and the advancement of the field? Why is it important? What questions will be discussed/voted on? What competencies will be taught?
  • 3 Objectives: By the end of the session, what should participants be able to Know, Do, Value?
  • Outline/Timing: How will the session be organized? How will the participants be engaged? The last 5 minutes must be devoted to participants reflections on Take Home Points!
  • Roundtable (60 min)
  • How-to Workshop (60 min)
  • Problem Solving Session (60 min)
  • Debate (60 min)
  • Educational Game (30-60 min)
  • Oral Presentation (10 min & 5 min Q&As)
  • Informative but short title (10 words maximum)
  • 2-sentence presentation summary
  • Theme designation
  • Abstract (150 words maximum): Background & Project Goals, Research or Instructional/Assessment Methods, Results or Program Evaluation, Conclusions 
  • Flash Presentation (5 min recorded at comfortable listening speed & 5 min Q&A)

Complete the Form Below: