Here is pretty good "essay" in the NY Times by a Dr. Lisa Rosenbaum, M.D. She is a fellow in cardiology which means she really hasn't been out in the real world for any extensive amount of time yet. That being said, she does go off on the new fad of finding nice and empathetic doctors. She starts off with:
My father the doctor told me that when he was an intern, the competence of his colleagues was inversely proportional to how much their patients liked them.
That rule probably isn't true but it does make one think. As I blogged in the past, our job is to help people and sometimes that means giving bad news, giving unpleasant recommendations, or just giving tough love. I try to be nice and respectful to all my patients. Sometimes I lose my way. Sometimes I am perceived otherwise. I do my best. The future idiots who want to measure our "niceness" will only lead us to bad consequences. Please read Dr. Rosenbaums piece and tell me what you think.
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