The medical community is suddenly interested in the concept that perhaps the way a person decides to go into medicine indicates their likelihood of “burnout, cynicism, and ethical decay.”
In a special june issue of Academic Medicine, there were 23 pages dedicated to the subject. Those who lacked “a deep personal clarify and commitment of purpose” are said to be more susceptible to the stresses of physician life.
The trouble is that a medical school education can weaken an aspiring doctor’s connection between what they’re doing and their original motivation to care for patients.
“[As a doctor you are] trying to remain your authentic self, that beautiful self that chose this amazing career, this profession that has a calling to help the sick—what a privilege—and to hold onto the humanized person that you are so you don’t become dehumanized and then dehumanize the patient,” said medical educator and clinical psychologist Hedy Wald, who guest-edited the special issue.
Read more: http://medicalxpress.com/news/2015-04-medical-professional-identity-burnout.html
H/T Medical XPress
