Professionalism is a hotly debated topic at the moment although there is an insufficient amount in the literature on how medical students learn it. This study looks at the perceptions of year 3 medical students (based at a single site) and tutors (in two specialties) on how they think students learn professionalism and what tutors think they do to enable this learning. The role of formal teaching sessions, role modelling, the hidden curriculum and assessment in the context of teaching medical professionalism is also explored.
