“For the record, I think everyone should think his or her job is special, just like every mom should think her kid is special.” “I don’t know if it’s feeling special or a strong sense of duty or what, but on balance, I think most doctors will choose to work more, and coercing more hours out of those that don’t is unlikely to do much good for patients,” Siddiqui says. Regardless of how much more “exceptional” doctors may be - indeed, Sibert’s original argument was that doctors not only play a special role in society, but also that there are necessarily too few of them to justify any of us choosing to be a part-time doctor - our student moderator, Gina Siddiqui, concluded that forcing physicians to work longer isn’t necessarily the right answer. However, this dynamic does set us apart to some degree. It is difficult to speak to how much this dynamic sets us apart from the teachers, the lawyers, the scientists, the politicians. I believe this basic, universal interaction between patient and physician engenders a greater responsibility on the part of physicians. Each interaction with a patient is based on an unspoken covenant, a belief that the doctor not only will do no harm, but also will try to relieve suffering. Ofole Mgbako: Through my experiences with people living with HIV, I realized that the way people readily share the most intimate details of their lives and entrust their bodies with physicians is unlike any other profession. So now, I think physicians are decidedly “less special.” Are they skilled and necessary for the average consumer? Yes, but so is their accountant. Yet how many shows are there about air traffic controllers? We are not alone in our unwavering responsibility, our duties, and our power.ĭerek Mazique: The complexity of medicine, the physician shortage, and the rise of managed care almost guarantee that physicians are no longer the only decision-makers in the room. Medicine is not the only profession with the power and duty to save lives - air traffic controllers save lives every day. Numerous TV shows and movies romanticize the occupation, feeding into a belief that medicine is the grandest and noblest of professions. For the 60 or so years that physicians have been able to actually cure people there has been an increasing fetishization of the field. I started the ball rolling thusly: “What do you guys think is your duty to society, and how do you feel it is different from that of your peers going into other fields? Should all doctors have to work full-time?”Īlexandra Charrow: Implicit in what you’re asking is the question of whether doctors are “special,” so special that we should be required to work additional hours and so integral to society that we have additional duties. Driving the debate was the question of whether being a doctor is in some way exceptional, more important to society than any other profession. What follows are excerpts of that roundtable conversation. We recruited other students to participate, including second-years Alexandra Charrow, Derek Mazique and Ofole Mgbako. In the wake of Sibert’s column, Gina Siddiqui, a medical student at University of Pennsylvania, where I teach, and I launched our own conversation about being a doctor-in-training and how doctors ultimately fit into the future of health care in the U.S. Sibert’s piece likely sparked countless conversations - and moments of doubt - at medical schools around the country. Medicine shouldn’t be a part-time interest to be set aside if it becomes inconvenient it deserves to be a life’s work.” But “if you want to be a doctor, be a doctor,” wrote Sibert, an anesthesiologist, concluding: “Patients need doctors to take care of them. If you want to work and be a mother, then you can find a job in journalism or professional cooking or law. “You can’t have it all,” Sibert wrote, exhorting students - women mostly - to remember that “medical education is a privilege, not an entitlement, and it confers a real moral obligation to serve.” Karen Sibert’s advice to students considering careers in medicine, in a controversial New York Times op-ed last summer. Follow having work-life balance is important to you, then don’t become a doctor.
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