Content area
Full Text
In this article...
Caring for people and compassion are core values for the vast majority of physicians. Appropriately the profession is held in high regard by society and, for several decades, physicians have been handsomely rewarded financially. With health care a complex industry, the increasing pressure on physician compensation and financial models of payment certainly contribute to anxieties. Is there an achievable balance in the evolving value-based compensation era with physicians' core values?
CARING FOR PEOPLE. IT'S WHAT WE DO.
I recently was approached by someone in distress over a newly made, poor-prognosis medical diagnosis. Yes, this happens to each of us routinely. But what made me stop to reflect after my discussion was the reflex reaction I had to feel empathy and to show genuine concern for the person without considering any other issues before engaging with her. It was an inherent response that, I believe, always lies just under the emotional surface for each of us as physicians.
Caring for people is a privilege and an honor we should continually cherish. There are very few professions, or even other work environments, where people show up and expect to share their deepest anxieties, troubles and secrets. Physicians are trained to receive this information in trusted confidence, and our patients usually want to use us this way. It is often a part of their healing - knowing that a caring person listened and demonstrated genuine concern.
In our perpetual quest to ferret out details on potential disease states in our patients, and to manage the excessive amount of related information, we should never forget this basic premise. We are basically here to care for people, and it is an instinctual drive for us as individuals that carries tremendous potential satisfaction in doing so effectively. Satisfaction for our patients ... and ourselves.
COMPASSION - At about the same time I was approached by the person I mentioned, I also had opportunity to attend a conference related to the well-being of physicians. It was co-sponsored by the American Medical Association, British Medical Association and Canadian Medical Association, a relatively new annual meeting called the International Conference on Physician Health. This year's theme: increasing joy in medicine.
We are all aware of the concern on morale...