Professional behavior and values are often learned outside the classroom, when physicians act as role models for students in patient-physician relationships.
The use of simulated patients in medical education helps students to develop communication skills needed to interact with patients when difficult circumstances arise.
A newspaper reporter who was a live organ donor for his childhood friend relates the impact first-hand reporting of the experience had on his life as well as the public.
An article from a 2002 issue of JAMA discusses competence as a form of professionalism, and suggests that a commitment to competence and excellence is a way of ensuring ethical behavior and improving the physician-patient relationship.
The AMA's Code of Medical Ethics is cited as the gold standard for issues surrounding informed consent by family members for procedures to be performed on the newly deceased.