Medical Role Models Research Articles

Themes of medical profession and professional socialization in medical sociology textbooks

Introduction: The present study examines the information on the medical profession and how the changes occurring in the medical practice, the social role and the evaluation of the physician are reflected in the English and Hungarian language medical sociology textbooks used in Hungary. Method: We analyzed chapters of Hungarian language medical sociology textbooks of thelast 25 years that discuss medical profession and student choices, and textbooks used in English language courses of Semmelweis University. Results: The corpus of the Hungarian textbooks (history of medical profession, medical role models, models of doctor-patient relationships, medical socialization) stayed relatively unchanged. While preserving the myth of the medical profession, there are criticisms towards the role and relationship models. The theme of the medical education gradually disappears from theEnglish language textbooks. The social positions of the medical profession and health care are discussed in a broader context, focusing on the health care system and health care provision, incorporating the allied professions, and taking aspects of patients/consumers into greater consideration. Summary: Both textbook types reflect on the changes in the social position of the medical profession. However, the English literature approaches the modernization processes from the angles of the health care system and health care provision, resulting in the diminishing importance of the topic of medical profession while the Hungarian literature focuses on the profession and professional education of physicians.

\u201cA doctor who really knows \u2026\u201d: a survey of community perspectives on medical students and practitioners with disability

BackgroundIn Australia, the proportion of medical students with disability remains low compared to students with disability in other university courses and to the prevalence of disability in society. Arguments for inclusion include medical school obligations to respond to community values in their programs, and that doctors with disabilities can offer valuable insights for patient care from their experiences. This study aimed to inform inclusive and socially accountable medical programs by investigating community views on doctors and medical students with disability.MethodsA concurrent mixed methods study was conducted, simultaneously collecting quantitative fixed responses, and qualitative free text responses to provide in-depth and triangulated data on community views. Frequency and thematic analysis within and across response categories was used to identify patterns and relationships, providing context and meaning to the quantitative data for the integrated findings.ResultsOf 207 respondents aged 17 to 71 years, 71% were female, and 60.2% had university level education. Most (92.3%) knew someone with a long standing disability, illness, mental health condition or learning difficulty, 74.7% agreed that a person with a disability should be encouraged to study medicine, 79.7% agreed that a person with a disability should be accepted into medical school, and 81.4% that including people with disability would be an advantage in the medical profession. Five integrated themes explained these views: 1) Fair selection, support and monitoring is expected of medical schools, 2) Life experiences of disability promotes real empathy in doctors, 3) Career considerations for those with disability, 4) Medical role models to address disabling social barriers, and 5) Responsibility to monitor own health and ability to perform.ConclusionsThis study indicates Australian community support for inclusion of people with disability as medical students and practitioners. Findings also suggest community expectations and trust in medical schools to effectively select and graduate only those who will be capable doctors, and to support health and development of all students towards being competent graduates. These findings provide support for medical schools to develop inclusive practices in medical education and training relevant to the health services and communities they serve.

Physicians Are People, TooAlso Human: The Inner Lives Of Doctors By Caroline Elton New York (NY): Basic Books, 2018 336 pp., $30.00

Physicians Are People, TooAlso Human: The Inner Lives Of Doctors By Caroline Elton New York (NY): Basic Books, 2018 336 pp., $30.00

Clinicians in management: a qualitative study of managers' use of influence strategies in hospitals.

BackgroundCombining a professional and managerial role can be challenging for doctors and nurses. We aimed to explore influence strategies used by doctors and nurses who are managers in hospitals with a model of unitary and profession neutral management at all levels.MethodsWe did a study based on data from interviews and observations of 30 managers with a clinical background in Norwegian hospitals.ResultsManagers with a nursing background argued that medical doctors could more easily gain support for their views. Nurses reported deliberately not disclosing their professional background, and could use a doctor as their agent to achieve a strategic advantage. Doctors believed that they had to use their power as experts to influence peers. Doctors attempted to be medical role models, while nurses spoke of being a role model in more general terms. Managers who were not able to influence the system directly found informal workarounds. We did not identify horizontal strategies in the observations and accounts given by the managers in our study.ConclusionsManagers’ professional background may be both a resource and constraint, and also determine the influence strategies they use. Professional roles and influence strategies should be a theme in leadership development programs for health professionals.

Clinicians should be aware of their responsibilities as role models: a case report on the impact of poor role modeling

BackgroundRole modeling is an important and valuable educational method. It is predominant throughout (under-)graduate medical education, and attributes of exemplary medical role models are manifold.AimThis article describes the impact of poor role modeling on medical students’ professional and personal development on the basis of a singular incident at an associated teaching hospital. In addition, scientific literature studying the effect of and the reasons behind poor role modeling in undergraduate and graduate medical education is analyzed and discussed.ResultsTo maximize the educational potential of clinical role modeling, medical schools have to consider strategies both on the individual as well as on the institutional level. Several suggestions are offered on both levels.Discussion/conclusionBased on a case report of significantly poor role modeling, this article outlines strategies through which academic medical institutions may maximize the educational potential of role modeling and lastingly enhance teaching proficiency of clinical faculty.

A Story that Illustrates Humanism in Medicine: Humanity–Lost and Found

The Arnold P. Gold Foundation is a not-for-profit organization founded in 1988 to nurture and sustain the time-honored tradition of the compassionate physician. Today, students, residents, and faculty participate in at least one Gold Foundation program at 93% of our nation's medical schools and at schools abroad. Its programs and projects are derived from the beliefs that compassion and respect are essential to the practice of medicine and enhance the healing process; the habits of humanistic care can and should be taught; and medical role-models and mentor practitioners who embody humanistic values deserve support and recognition. In 1999, the Gold Foundation instituted the annual Humanism in Medicine Essay Contest as a way to encourage medical students to reflect on their experiences in writing. Since the contest's beginning, the Foundation has received over a thousand essays from more than 110 schools of medicine and osteopathy. The theme for the 2003 Humanism in Medicine Essay Contest was “A Story that Illustrates Humanism in Medicine.” Winning essays and honorable mentions were selected by a distinguished panel of judges. For the third year in a row, Academic Medicine is pleased to publish the top three winning essays from the contest; the essay by 2003's first-prize winner was published in the October 2004 issue. The essay by second-prize winner Anela Bonic appears here. The third-place essay will appear in the December issue. Winning essays are also published on the Foundation's Web site: 〈www.humanism-in-medicine.org〉 and in the Foundation's DOC newsletter. For further information, please call The Arnold P. Gold Foundation at 201-567-7999 or e-mail: 〈[email protected]〉.

Ethical conflict in the practice of occupational medicine.

The practice of occupational medicine has been portrayed as being fraught with ethical conflict and yet this problem has received little systematic study. A question and case study survey of a randomly selected cohort of members of the American Occupational Medical Association has been performed to examine the extent and nature of this problem in occupational medicine practice in the United States. The results indicate a strong reliance on traditional medical role models in responding to ethical conflict but with significant underlying tension between more deontological physician-patient approaches and more teleological public health approaches. These results have significant implications for the synthesis of bioethical theories based on a perceived complementarity of ethical reality, as well as suggesting important improvements in future occupational medicine training.