The most important non-academic attributes of good doctors

January 01, 0001

The most important non-academic attributes of good doctors

Although a multiplicity of qualities and behaviours considered essential in a good doctor are identified in the profession's guidance documents, there is no consensus as to their relative importance, or indeed, agreement as to the core qualities that should be, or could be, feasibly assessed in the limited time of the typical medical school interview. The aim of the study by researchers from the UK was to identify the most important generic attributes of good doctors, which can inform the content of the undergraduate medical student selection processes. The study used a Delphi survey to systematically gather the opinion of a panel of experts from a range of medical specialties as to the most important core attributes of good doctors. Additionally, a snapshot of opinion was obtained from the attendees of workshops held at a medical school educational conference.

Common core attributes of a good doctor were identified across a number of medical specialties.

The researchers concluded: "Consensus among clinicians from disparate specialties can be reached as to the most important generic attributes of good doctors and can be used to inform the choice of personal qualities and behaviours examined during undergraduate medical student selection process." The attributes can be found here: http://informahealthcare.com/doi/full/10.3109/0142159X.2010. 490603

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Medical Teacher 32(8):e347-e354
© 2010 Informa Plc
What are the most important non-academic attributes of good doctors? A Delphi survey of clinicians. Paul Lambe and David Bristow. Correspondence to Paul Lambe: [email protected]

Category: PT. Professional Training. Keywords: attributes, good, doctor, survey, journal watch.
Synopsis edited by Dr Stephen Wilkinson, Melbourne, Australia. Posted on Global Family Doctor 10 September 2010

Pearls are an independent product of the Cochrane primary care group and are meant for educational use and not to guide clinical care.