It is not very hard to become a doctor. Indeed, the most difficult part is what comes next after you become a doctor. Your patients expect you to identify their problem, explain the process they must go through, find the best treatment, etc. Thus, before becoming a doctor, it's important to learn about the qualities needed. After reviewing the researches carried out about this matter, we have come up with ten important features good doctors share.
1. Compassion
Compassion is the "ability to identify with the suffering of another or to imagine ourselves in a similar state," said John Saunders, MD, MA, past chair, Committee for Ethical Issues in Medicine, Royal College of Physicians, London, UK.
Exercising compassion is an inseparable component of good medical care in many situations and needs grounding in moral principles. Some people are disposed to be compassionate innately while others are not. Despite the fact that our dispositions vary, compassion is a quality we can develop in ourselves.
2. Understanding
Understanding is not a knowledge or comprehension merely. In a sentence, understanding is "the ability to think and act with what one knows," wrote education expert David Perkins, Ph.D., in the book "Teaching for Understanding: Linking Research with Practice." Learning for understanding is learning how to be flexible in your performance.
Doctors want their patients to understand their recommendations. They want them to understand when and how to take medicine, as well as its side effects and benefits, or what's involved in a certain operation and its possible results. In other words, doctors want their patients to not only have the knowledge but to be able to make decisions based on that knowledge.
If doctors switch their places with their patient, they realize that patients want them to appreciate their knowledge, and accordingly to be able to act on it. When doctors think about it that way, how well do they truly understand what a patient is trying to tell them?
3. Empathy
In simple terms, empathy refers to the ability to understand others' feelings and problems. In more technical terms, empathy is held to be a social ability that has two major components. First, effectiveness: the ability to share the emotions of others, and Second, cognition: the ability to comprehend other's feelings.
Some patients believe that doctors who express empathy are less competent than others. However, authors who have carried out researches in this regard understood that this is not the case at all. Indeed, doctors who showed empathic nonverbal behavior like eye contact or smiling were perceived as both warmer and more knowledgeable.
These days, society doesn't judge doctors by their technical competence only. Although their ability to conduct medical procedures is of significant importance, their interpersonal skills must not be ignored.
4. Honesty
Being honest with patients is a critical factor and should be straightforward. Unfortunately, modern medicine may lead physicians into gray areas, in which the most helpful thing to say may not be the most truthful thing. The truth is one-fifth of physicians state that fudging the truth is not necessarily out of bounds, according to a 2012 nationwide research of nearly 1,900 practicing physicians. 1 in 10 admitted that they had told patients something untrue within the past years.
Some physicians might not tell the full truth to their patients, to prevent them from upsetting or causing them to lose hope. Nonetheless, surveys of communication with gravely ill patients illustrate that patients prefer accurate and honest information, delivered with understanding and empathy by clinicians, even when prognoses are dire.
In a nutshell, honesty is still the best policy when communicating with patients, especially if you present it with genuine care and concern.
5. Competence
Competence refers to the ability to do something well. In other words, a competent physician has at least a basic level of knowledge. Undoubtedly, recognizing such abilities is so hard since there are significant, meaningful variations in capability and clinical judgment.
In measuring doctor's quality, we might focus on 'soft' skills like empathy, which can be measured through patient's experience surveys. In addition to it, we have to focus on intellectual skills, such as the ability to make difficult diagnoses and emotional intelligence, such as the ability to collaborate and effectively lead teams. It's important to note that "we don't really measure these things at all, assuming that all clinicians have them." said Ashish Jha, MD, MPH, Harvard School of Public Health, Cambridge, MA.
6. Commitment
Doctors should be committed to their profession, patients, and continued self-improvement. They should comprehend that the profession of medicine is not only a job but a calling.
Commitment protects people from the harmful effects of stress since it enables them to attach meaning and direction to their work. Without such a commitment, people would suffer from anxiety and its consequences. According to psychological studies, "commitment helps individuals to resist the effects of strain and stress in their organizational environments.
Many studies discussed the concept of distancing as a defensive strategy in which physicians who suffer from stress begin to depersonalize their interactions with patients and turn sour against their profession itself and workplace.
7. Humanity
"The good physician treats the disease; the great physician treats the patient who has the disease," said Sir William Osler. Surely to be a good doctor, you should be a good human being: a good spouse, a good customer at the store, a good colleague, a good driver on the road. In other words, it's easier to be a good doctor if you like people and want to help them genuinely.
8. Courage
"I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it," said Nelson Mandela.
The term used frequently in medicine is "moral courage." Moral courage could be defined as the voluntary willingness to stand up for and act on one's ethical beliefs despite barriers that might inhibit the ability to move toward the right action. Such courage is essential to physicians' commitment to working in the best interest of patients.
Physicians usually face situations that call for moral courage. Meeting an angry patient or family member, delivering care to an infectious patient, addressing an incompetent or impaired colleague, raising concerns about unethical or unsafe practices, disclosing a medical error, etc., are some of those circumstances.
It should be noted that that courage isn't always the act of trying to do what is right, but sometimes just the act of trying again.
9. Respect
Patients are most sensitive about how much their doctor respects them. Based on research done at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, physicians who respect their patients provide more information and have a more positive influence on those who visit them.
Researchers also found out that doctors usually feel higher levels of respect for older patients and for those they know personally. However, the level of respect is not related to the patients' gender, race, and education.
These studies show that physicians must be aware of the effect their feelings can have on their patients. Unfortunately, some doctors assume that their behaviors and the way they treat the patients are not a matter of importance. According to the researches performed in this respect, ignoring this issue can negatively impact patients.
10.Optimism
Doctors should express confidence whenever they talk to their patients. Based on the findings of some medical research, optimistic patients have better health results compared to others. Optimism has several physical health benefits, such as the reduced risk for cardiovascular stroke and healthier levels of lipids and antioxidants. It also leads to healthier behaviors. Indeed, people believe that optimists tend to eat nutritious foods more and manage stress in a better way.
Fortunately, people can learn optimism by social influences. In the majority of cases, patients have reported that even if they are going to be informed of a bad diagnosis, they prefer to hear it with at least a hint of hope. One meta-analysis concluded that most patients with terminal illnesses want their doctors to be honest with them, even when discussing end-of-life issues. On the other hand, others desire accurate information but not detailed. It seems that a combination of honesty and optimism is preferred in most situations, which is called "hope-giving."
The ten main qualities a good doctor possesses have been completely reviewed. However, they are just the tip of the iceberg. In fact, besides having such features, a good doctor should be decisive, energetic, ethical, friendly, humorous, investigative, nurturing, observant, passionate, responsible, reassuring, selfless, skillful, trustworthy, and wise.
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