• E-mail
• Print
• RSS

What would a culture of appreciation and respect look like?

Medical Staff Leader Connection, February 27, 2008

Want to receive articles like this one in your inbox? Subscribe to Medical Staff Leader Connection!

Most of us were trained as physicians through an educational culture that extends back to the so-called Flexner Report published in 1910, if not further. The report represented a rigorous study of the science and art of medicine with an almost brutally negative reinforcement style to ensure that professional standards were met and errors were minimized. Case review was often harsh, but we emerged as qualified practitioners.

Unfortunately, this came with a price. While the knowledge passed down from mentors and teachers is priceless, their method of teaching may have hindered our ability to create and sustain a medical staff culture of compassion and respect.

How often do we find ourselves mirroring our mentors and teachers when we know intuitively that there was a better way to teach and encourage? How often are we empathetic when colleagues are ostracized or marginalized by an unsympathetic legal, regulatory, and quality oversight system?

There is no rapid way to undo almost 100 years of tradition, but we can acknowledge that there is a better way to teach the art and science of medicine. Whether we serve in leadership roles or as medical staff members, we owe it to each other to consciously acknowledge the traditions we inherited and develop a culture of appreciation and respect for future physicians.

All the best,
Jon Burroughs, MD

Want to receive articles like this one in your inbox? Subscribe to Medical Staff Leader Connection!

• Comment
• E-mail to a Colleague
• Print
• RSS
• Archive

Comments