careers: (1) doctor (2) teacher

[USeF]

Somone commented on the thread where everyone listed an optional career if the doctor bit doesn't come through how there were so many of us that wanted to teach if we dont become doctors (I hope to do both, god-willing). I also also was amazed (pleasantly) at all the teacher-wannabees on here. Then I remembered something I just read and found it. In a book, "Toward a more natural science: Biology and Human Affairs" I found the line on p.200

"With respect to the patient's body, he is a helper, a co-worker with nature and with the patient himself, in providing the ill body its proper aid. With respect to the patient as person, one of his oft neglected functions is to be a leader and a teacher, one who leads the activities of healing and one who teaches patients and the community about regaining and maintaining healthy functioning. The word 'doctor' literally means 'teacher', from the Latin verb docere, 'to teach,' in this case one who teaches the wisdom and wonders of the body to patient and pupil alike." - written by a guy that I want to become, Dr. Leon Kass of U-Chicago, who is currently chairman of the newly created Council on Bioethics. It was originally created to deal with the heavy issue of stem cell research.

Here's a little bio:
<a href="http://www.alteich.com/links/kass.htm" target="_blank">http://www.alteich.com/links/kass.htm</a>

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[USeF]

so, anyone have any comments on this?...
*tumbleweeds roll by*

 

[brandonite]

I talk about this in my interviews, as I've been a TA for three years now. Right now, I work 20 hours a week as a TA for physics and math. I think you need a lot of the same skills - communication, especially. And the teacher-student relationships can be compared to the doctor-patient relationship. I think the bottom line is that most people who are good at teaching or who like teaching would make a good doctor.

And that's not even touching the whole "doctors are teachers to med student" angle.

 

[mpp]

The only comment I have is that I agree...with both the quote and brandonite's comment. The job of physician to me adds additional components to teaching...constant learning and constant challenge. Not that teaching isn't challenging, but the challenge is different...more social than intellectual or scientific. One of the most important things I've learned in every single class I've taken in college is how to be a more effective teacher...and you can learn this from both the great teachers and the poor ones.

 

[A. Caveman]

cool. as dub-ya's daddy used to say "i did not know that."

 

[USeF]

i just figured out the whole DUBYA thing. like double-you in southern drawl is 'dubya'. haha, damn that is funny! Feel like that guy that gets a joke 2 minutes later and starts cracking up

here's a good ol dubya site --&gt; <a href="http://www.thedubyareport.com/" target="_blank">http://www.thedubyareport.com/</a>

 

[USeF]

so what irks me is that we all agree that Kass' definition of a doctor is more or less accurate, yet in reality the doctor's role in the modern day has become hideously compounded.

A doc's role nowadays is also to CHANGE whatever happens "wrong" with the patient using the "right" drug. There's too much of a bastardization, making him more or less a witchdoctor that is to remove undesirables. These are jobs of mere technicians, people that memorize 'this drug is for that ailment.' Let the physician work his art with the knowledge of the entire body working with, not against, her/him.

Hopefully we on a whole are moving back toward the fundamentals, the essence of medicine. Or maybe we need to do so on an individual level as physicians.