Technical expert or a philanthropist, entrepreneur or an altruist? When asked what makes a good doctor, there is no clear answer. Nevertheless, any doctor asks himself this question someday.
Charity and humanity: such concepts fitted into stories, go to the heart. For the health care system they seem to play no role. In a system in which words such as efficiency and economy have a permanent place, they act as foreign bodies. Never before has the medical cause have the ability to do so much good. But also never before has the medical cause been so scrutinized by the patients. For many people it appears objective, cold and technically. The system asks of them to be experts, but also friendly with the patients and of course as economical as possible with the money from the insurance companies. Any doctor who has a private practice is also an entrepreneur and an employer.
What is a good doctor? – If someone asks this type of question, he “exposes himself to ridicule.â€
Prof. Dr. med Dr. phil. Klaus Dörner in his book “The Good Doctor”, states in his book that he is certain that every doctor asks himself this question, but it happens in silence. Doerner does not believe that you will ever find a definitive definition of the good doctor.
Medical students tend to have idealistic motives
Why do you study medicine?
Asks Dr. biol. hom Jurkat Harald the students in Giessen. The psychologist directs the Department of Medicine at the university there, the career exploration, and is active in the clinic for psychosomatic medicine and psychotherapy. His experience shows that the students have primarily idealistic motives to become a doctor.
After Jurkat assessment, negative previous experiences with doctors, play a role in the students motivation. This results to the desire to make things better, resulting to a huge pressure on the students shoulders. Studies show that the rate of depression among physicians at the beginning of professional life is higher than in the general population. “This is certainly due to the average of idealism, the doctors have in comparison to other occupational groups,” is convinced Jurkat.
The image of the ideal physician is changed over the course of employment. For the young professionals, competence in diagnosis and therapy has priority. The longer the doctors operate, the more human care and communication skills will be prioritized.
What do the patients say? The patients want a doctor that has time. Time to listen and time to explain. Patients want to get an appointment as soon as possible – especially if it is something that is urgent, in their view. They also lay emphasis on confidentiality. The patients want from the doctor a precise explanation of what they are missing. And of course they expect that the doctor is technically up to date.
Today, patients want to take decisions together with the doctors:
If there is a roughly objective measure of the good doctor, then certainly the expertise. Most of the other criteria relates to the physician-patient relationship. This can be divided into three models:
- Paternal relationship: paternal, caring, the physician is a superior expert. He decides for the patient to his (alleged) best.
- Partnership Model: The doctor accompanies and advises the patient and helps him to come to his own assessment. In cases of persistent dissent, he respects the patient’s decision.
- Consumer model: factual, and the physician is primarily the technical expert. Decisions lie solely with the patient.
Basic social conceptions determine the ideal physician, they can go back to Christian and humanist values​​.  But the picture is changing with the times. An example: Society is today with children different than it was 100 years ago. Accordingly, we expect physicians to treat children with respect. The idea of ​​good medical practice thus depends on the people of a society. “The question of what is a good doctor?  Has ultimately the question of, what is generally regarded as good and respectful relationships with each other?” said Schöne-Seifert.
In the end, all definitions remain elastic. “But we don’t want a unique doctor image. Physicians are different – like the people, “said Schöne-Seifert. But for the ethics there is a core, an attitude – an awareness of how much responsibility it bears for others in this profession. This “virtue” for it is by no means a dusty concept. The demand that physicians should not be seen as a burden but a challenge and enrichment.
Â
In your vision, what is a good doctor? What makes you a good doctor? And what could make you even better?
source of the article here:Â http://www.aerzteblatt.de/archiv/118010
