The Developing Physician

[الدكتور أحمد باذيب]

The Developing Physician — Becoming a Professional موضوع مهم لاساتذة كليات الطب والمهتمين

David T. Stern, M.D., Ph.D., and Maxine Papadakis, M.D.
http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/full/355/17/1794

We all reflect on our formal training in medicine and know that somehow we made the transition from being a student in a classroom to being a seasoned clinician caring for patients. We spent years acquiring the knowledge and skills necessary to function as a physician, and part of that learning was accomplished by following examples and by trial and error. Most of us are still learning how to be better "professionals," but we are building on a foundation that was developed in medical school and early postgraduate training. These educational and training environments have changed substantially in recent years, so it is pertinent to ask whether we are cultivating in current students and residents the professional behaviors we would seek should we need medical care.

When teaching students our core values, we must consider the real world in which they will work and relax.1,2,3,4 The concept of "teaching" must include not only lectures in the classroom, small group discussions, exercises in the laboratory, and care for patients in clinic but also conversations held in the hallway, jokes told in the cafeteria, and stories exchanged about a "great case" on our way to the parking lot. This broad concept of teaching includes three basic actions: setting expectations, providing experiences, and evaluating outcomes (Table 1).5,6 Although the literature on professionalism generally focuses on only one or another of these three tasks,7 a comprehensive program requires us to address all three.