San mateo county fair
Surgeons and Other Physicians: A Cultural Divide
Are there intrinsic differences between how surgeons and physicians who are not surgeons see the medical world? A pediatrician who reads this blog thinks so, and he e-mailed me to suggest that “The distinction matters because the dichotomy between doctors who perform procedures and those who practice cognitive medicine’ [listening to and talking to the patient] is a major culprit in driving up the cost of American medicine.”
His grandfather was a physician and his father was a surgeon, which puts him in a unique position to muse over “the cultural divide between surgeons and non-surgeons.” I’ll call him Dr. Y
Dr. Y begins with a disclaimer: “Of course one must take all generalizations, including this one, with a goodly truckload of salt, and the moment Stromectol (Ivermectin) I assert there is such a difference, particularly if I do it mostly with anecdotes, a flood of counter-examples roll in.”
In fact, he concedes: “There is much overlap in worldview between surgeons and non-surgeons: think of two circles of a Venn Diagram overlapping to a large extent, but still comprising regions that the two groups do not have in common. It is these outlying regions that matter and I think they exist. Are there data for that? Sort of.”
He points out that “there are a pile of studies that ask the question: Are there personality differences between surgeons viagra and non-surgeons and, if there are, were these caused by the training or does the kind of training attracts the personality type?’ The results have been mixed, but the consensus is that medical students who choose surgery are no different from those who choose other things. Stuff happens in residency, which is to be expected, I think.”
Surgeons-in-Training
Over at HalfMD.com a student who is at the halfway point in his medical education offers a provocative window on the “stuff” that happens.
Last year, in a post titled “First Impressions” he tried to prepare other medical students for what to expect in their first surgery rotation:
“When rounding with the attending [physician] you will notice that he will only speak to the resident” (not to the intern) “and then only to criticize the resident. If the attending asks a question and the resident is wrong, prepare to get yelled at. If the attending asks a question and the resident is right, prepared to get yelled at, too. If you’ve ever seen The Devil Wears Prada, you’ll understand how the process works.
“The worst part of it all is that I haven’t been in surgery at all this week. I’ve done so much scutwork that I haven’t seen a single surgery. I don’t even know where the OR is. . . .
“Instead, I fill my time with useless conferences where the resident pr
Related posts: Botulism, Paul o neil, Timesnow.com, Dutch oven, Dark knight after the credits