Top 10 Qualities a Good Doctor Must Have

Top 10 Qualities a Good Doctor Must Have 2019

While utilizing solutions such as medical transcription services can be beneficial for doctors, they should also focus on fostering certain good qualities.

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Doctors have a significant influence over their patients, and most patients consider their word as final when it comes to healthcare related matters. Patients also expect a lot from their care providers, especially care and compassion. Many physicians are finding it difficult to rise up to their patients’ expectations in the current EHR-driven world, though many of them are utilizing EHR-integrated medical transcription services to save time spent on medical documentation and focus more on patients. While physicians recognize the benefits of EHR, they also complain that many systems used today are cumbersome when it comes to providing quality care and also put pressure on the physician. Many studies have shown that physicians using EHR are frustrated about the clerical tasks they have to complete and are more likely to get stressed out. This affects the patient care they provide as well as their productivity. The more committed doctors are to patient care, the more frustrated they get when they can’t focus on patients.

When on the subject of doctors and their pain and passion, let us consider what goes into making a good doctor. Dr. Ranjana Srivastava, in her article published in theguardian.com, highlights 3 qualities that are a must for any aspiring doctor. 

Curiosity: Scientific knowledge and understanding are evolving rapidly, and doctors must stay up to date with the latest information. Being curious about the person who has the disease is important. Dr. Ranjana says, " I spend about as much time prescribing chemotherapy to my patients as exploring who does their groceries, tracking the progress of their spouse’s dementia, and checking whether they can afford the bus fare to the hospital." For a doctor, it is much more satisfying to treat the person rather than find out what the disease is.



Reflection: One must reflect to grow. Sometimes, patients may not like the doctor telling the truth about their gloomy prognosis. Patients may even leave the doctor in such instances. It is natural for doctors to feel humiliated and depressed if that happens. But doctors should understand that you can never be too

sensitive

or

too

subtle

when

having

such

discussions

with

their

patients. Communication is an important element in a healthcare setup and most complaints stem from poor communication. Doctors can choose to be secretive and not disclose grim health details to their patients. However, that is not a wise strategy. On the other hand, a good doctor will choose the right time to disclose a health condition and the associated risks to the patient in the best way possible. 

Empathy: Empathy is an important quality a doctor must have. There may be rules that a sick patient must follow but it is empathy that helps decide what a patient will do. Sometimes patients believe that doctors who show warmth are less knowledgeable or less competent, and thus these doctors face a trade-off

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between being perceived as competent or as empathetic. But studies have shown that doctors who displayed empathetic nonverbal behavior such as eye contact, smiling,

and uncrossed

arms

were perceived

as

both

warmer and more

competent.

Now, here are 7 other qualities a successful doctor must have. 

Understanding: Understanding is the ability to think and act with what one knows. For a doctor, learning for understanding is more like learning to have a good conversation. According to David Perkins PhD, in the book Teaching for Understanding: Linking Research with Practice, learning facts can be a crucial backdrop to learning for understanding. In short, doctors should be able to communicate with their patients effectively and the patients should understand the doctors’ recommendations. Patients should not only have the knowledge but must also be able to make decisions based on that knowledge.



Honesty: Being honest with patients is part of the routine for doctors and it is in the American Medical Association's Code of Medical Ethics. But modern medicine can lead physicians to hide the truth from patients. According to a 2012 nationwide survey of nearly 1,900 practicing physicians, one-fifth of physicians said that fudging the truth is not necessarily out of bounds. Some doctors are not very honest with their patients. Studies, however, show that gravely ill patients prefer honesty from their physicians.



Commitment: Being committed to your profession is important for any job. In the case of physicians, being committed is important for self-improvement.

Commitment protects individuals from the negative effects of stress as it enables them to attach direction and meaning to their work. It also enables them to resist the effects of stress and strain in their organizational environment.



Competence: Most American Physicians meet a basic threshold of competence to ensure that they have basic level of knowledge. Doctors quality includes their soft skills like empathy that can be measured through patient survey. Focusing on intellectual skills is also crucial to collaborate and effectively lead teams.



Professionalism: To gain patients’ trust, doctors have to exude professionalism.

They should never look inattentive, impatient or dishevelled.



Courage: Moral courage is important and often used in the medical field. It refers to the voluntary willingness to stand up for and act on one's ethical beliefs.

Physicians often face situations where they need moral courage like caring for an infectious patient, meeting an angry patient or family member, disclosing medical errors and so on.

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

Optimism: Doctors have to encourage patients to be optimistic because patients who are more optimistic tend to have a better life and better health outcomes.

Being optimistic is linked to a range of physical health benefits ranging from reduced risk for cardiovascular diseases and stroke to healthier level of antioxidants and lipids.

Today, focus on these qualities has dwindled as doctors are multi tasking between medical documenting and providing healthcare. This does not allow physicians to focus completely on patient care and causes physician burnout. While support solutions such as medical transcription outsourcing services can be beneficial, it is on the part of the physicians themselves to utilize these. Apart from finding ways to lighten their administrative burden, physicians should also strive to ensure maximum communication with their patients and provide words of confidence and encouragement that are so important for patients.

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918-221-7809