On Being a Physician
The role of a physician as healer has grown more complex, and emphasis will increasingly be on patient and family-centric care. Physicians must provide compassionate, appropriate, and effective patient care by demonstrating competence in the attributes that are essential to successful medical practice. Beyond simply gaining medical knowledge, modern physicians embrace lifelong learning and need effective interpersonal and communication skills. Medical professionalism encompasses multiple attributes, and physicians are increasingly becoming part of a larger health care team. To ensure that physicians are trained in an environment that fosters innovation and alleviates administrative burdens, the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education has recently revamped the standards of accreditation for today’s more than 130 specialties and subspecialties. This chapter contains 6 references and 5 MCQs.