Why do you think medicine is a service profession?

[mariposas905]

Everyone says medicine is a service profession (I've heard some say it's a 'selfless service'). Of course, many doctors engage in free healthcare, mission trips abroad, public health research, etc.

But is it right to say medicine is rooted in service and altruism, when some doctors charge enormous amounts of money for what they do? And also, I've heard that the current healthcare system/insurance is turning more into a business these days?

I'm curious what your thoughts are about why medicine is almost always connected with service that we don't associate as easily with other professions. Has this been changing with recent years, with medicine trending more towards where the money is? Or is it still wholly based on service as many people see it?

*Fyi, I didn't post this to say I don't feel medicine isn't about service! I just wanted to hear your thoughts, it's something I've often wondered about :]

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[Lucca]

service doesn't necessarily mean that you do something for free (although many service professionals may elect to do so at least part of the time).

I'm not going to tackle the underlying question about How Much Money Should Doctors Make Anyway? because that's a mess and would be better done over a beer than an internet forum.

Medicine is a service profession because it is your job to serve other people. The patient comes to you with a problem. It is not necessarily the doctor's prerogative to solve whatever that problem is, but to the extent that it is related to the patient's health, it is the physician's duty to apply their expertise in helping the patient understand and overcome it. In a very narrow sense, it could even be the physician's duty to intervene and solve or cure the issue right away, but that's not what makes it a service profession. Service means the job is about someone else's needs and not you.

 

[Goro]

Everyone says medicine is a service profession (I've heard some say it's a 'selfless service'). Of course, many doctors engage in free healthcare, mission trips abroad, public health research, etc.

But is it right to say medicine is rooted in service and altruism, when some doctors charge enormous amounts of money for what they do? And also, I've heard that the current healthcare system/insurance is turning more into a business these days?

I'm curious what your thoughts are about why medicine is almost always connected with service that we don't associate as easily with other professions. Has this been changing with recent years, with medicine trending more towards where the money is? Or is it still wholly based on service as many people see it?

*Fyi, I didn't post this to say I don't feel medicine isn't about service! I just wanted to hear your thoughts, it's something I've often wondered about :]

Believe it or not, doctors can do both.

One of the things about the admissions process is that it weeds out people who only think in concrete terms.

 

[Catalystik]

Medicine is a service profession in the same way that being a plumber is (they do work for others, offering repairs or maintenance), but also in the way that a priest/imam/rabbi serve their congregation (they devote themselves to others in an altruistic sense without regard to material recompense).

 

[Lyoness]

service position = position that offers a service of some sort.

 

[puahate]

because you serve people

 

[[Time]]

doctor = body mechanic;

my car mechanic often charges me enormous amounts of money and other times he finds/fixes things as a courtesy

 

[Dagrimsta1]

Medicine has always been a business. The basic principle has always remained the same; service for money with the service being consulting on the patients health.

 

[DubbiDoctor]

In all jobs/professions, you serve clients: a lawyer assists clients with their legal needs, a teacher, their educational needs, a housecleaner, their cleaning needs. But in medicine you assist people at their most vulnerable, sometimes on the precipice of life and death. It's not uncommon, as I have already been taught in medical school, for sick patients to view their physicians as parental figures that they deeply depend upon. Illness has a way of making once highly independent people regress and feel helpless, influencing the doctor-patient relationship. For this reason, it's particularity important for physicians to demonstrate integrity, empathy and interpersonal skills.

 

[aldol16]

Medicine has always been a business. We can't pretend that it has been run like anything other than a business in the United States. But service doesn't necessarily mean "serve for free." Service is any profession where the good you sell is service, or serving, to consumers. In the restaurant industry, that's termed food service. In medicine, you just happen to be selling your time and consultation to consumers.

 

[MyOdyssey]

Medicine has always been a business. We can't pretend that it has been run like anything other than a business in the United States. But service doesn't necessarily mean "serve for free." Service is any profession where the good you sell is service, or serving, to consumers. In the restaurant industry, that's termed food service. In medicine, you just happen to be selling your time and consultation to consumers.

What about the family doctor who tends to his flock?

Think of Field of Dreams where the would be baseball player gets his dream to play with Shoeless Joe Jackson and other baseball greats but gives that up to be a beloved family doctor.

Is that more myth than reality?

 

[smukke]

In addition to the usual stuff, I think medicine is a service profession because a lot of times you have to figure out why exactly they came to you today and what it takes to get them to leave happy and they may not be able to articulate it themselves.

 

[aldol16]

What about the family doctor who tends to his flock?

Think of Field of Dreams where the would be baseball player gets his dream to play with Shoeless Joe Jackson and other baseball greats but gives that up to be a beloved family doctor.

Is that more myth than reality?

Yes. Wait til you get to medical school and meet all of your classmates.