Professionalism perspectives among medical imaging students in UiTM Puncak Alam/ Nurul Athira Razak and Hairenanorashikin Sharip

Professionalism is an integral concept that concerns the attitudes and behaviours as indicator of level of professionalism presented in radiography profession. Thus, professionalism cultures that have been practiced by radiography students must be recognized to inculcate professionalism core values in future ethical and responsible radiographers. This study aimed to explore the personal evaluation of professionalism in terms of its fundamental elements among medical imaging students and recognise the significant differences based on demographic characteristics. The study population comprised of medical imaging students from UiTM Puncak Alam Campus through cross-sectional study by using validated questionnaires with regards to nine elements of professionalism attributes on a five-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree). The simple random sampling technique was used to select the sample. The data were then analysed by using (SPSS) version 21.0 with statistical significant accepted at P value less than 0.05. A total of 205 medical imaging students successfully completed the questionnaires. Overall, the mean total score for all participants was 171.1 (SD: 14.34). The result showed no significant differences in all nine elements of professionalism between male and female participants (p=0.12). However, female students scored higher level of professionalism than male students. Among all nine elements of professionalism observed, there were two elements with statistically significant differences between all seven groups of semester. In term of respectful, sixth semester diploma students obtained significantly higher score than second semester degree students (P=0.036). Meanwhile for self-directed learning, sixth semester diploma students obtained higher score than fourth semester diploma students (P=0.014). Out of 7 groups of semester students, diploma students of sixth semester scored highest professionalism score and diploma students of fourth semester scored the lowest professionalism score (p=0.04). Henceforth, efforts must be made to improve students’ exposure and training on professionalism core values to produce a quality future radiographer.