1 Medicine as a
Career
On being a physician
Why study medicine?
The reality of a physician's career
The challenge ahead
Historical overview
The need for physicians
Physician supply: current debate
Desirable attributes for a medical
career
Facing the future
ON BEING A PHYSICIAN
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Physicians are acknowledged practitioners of the
art of medicine. They are expected to
be people of high ethical standards since they
are entrusted with the intimate details of
life and death. They are expected to have the
capacity and enthusiasm for difficult work
extended over long hours, and they must be able
to perform efficiently under a chronic
load of heavy responsibility.
Physicians are expected to be able to reason
quickly and accurately and to have life-
long desires to continually add to their
accumulated body of medical knowledge by
learning about new developments in their
profession. They are expected to be able to
communicate with their patients in order to
teach them hygienic measures and to ade-
quately explain the nature and significance of
a disease. They are also expected to be
willing to serve the community in a capacity
beyond that of their professional training.
Physicians are people who have ordinary
physical and emotional needs, yet who have a
great purpose in life. Their practice can be
the source of enrichment of their own life as
well as the lives of others.
When setting your sights toward a medical
career, your goal should be to become a
good physician. Ideally, this means becoming a
doctor who will (1) blend book knowl-
edge with common sense; (2) provide compassion
with candor; (3) strive to maintain
perspective by focusing on the whole patient
rather than solely on the disease; (4) allow
time to listen to those seeking help; (5)
perceive the real meaning of the patient's words;
(6) communicate with patients in a way they can
easily understand; (7) think indepen-
dently; (8) rely on your own mind and clinical
judgment; (9) utilize tests and consultants
to verify hypotheses; (10) be aware of
limitations of lab procedures; (11) be cognizant
of your own fallibility; and (12) not be afraid
to admit when you don't know something.
WHY STUDY MEDICINE?
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The medical profession offers much to a young
person. It provides an avenue for attain-
ing satisfaction of many of the most
fundamental human desires. Medicine can satisfy
your intellectual curiosity; it permits you to
successfully apply the enormous body of
information that has been accumulated in recent
decades to reduce pain and suffering
and extend the average life span. At the same
time, it presents the challenge of the many
unsolved problems that await solution through
laboratory or hospital work.
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