Approved at General Faculty Meeting: 10/24/2002
A faculty member's personal characteristics and professional behavior are important to the extent that they have an impact on the missions of the School of Medicine, the Health Sciences Center, and the University of New Mexico. In the School of Medicine, there is a commitment to the attributes of professionalism, which include altruism, accountability, excellence, duty, honesty, integrity and respect. For clinical faculty engaged in patient care, there is a further responsibility to apply these attributes to their interactions with patients, patient families, and significant others such that patient health care needs and the privacy and confidentiality of patient information takes precedence over self-interest.
While maintaining independence of thought and action, all faculty should work effectively with diverse peers, supervisors, subordinates, patients and learners. Information used in the appraisal of personal characteristics and professionalism may be acquired from peers, subordinates, supervisors, patients, and learners (e.g. letters of recommendation and other written comments from those who are in a position to provide an informed evaluation). The personal nature of this information requires that it be handled with prudence.
