Do you really care doctor?

摘要

INTRODUCTION:One of the authors was reading a book on Buddhism the other day (as you do!) which made the following assertion: '... doctors who really care for their patients have patients who respond better to their treatment ...'. This would have remained interesting but largely unimportant had it not coincided with a meeting between said author and a psychiatry lecturer about potential teaching for fifth-year medical students on the principles and role of primary care mental health management. We won't bore you with the details of the discussion, but a view that the two experienced clinicians wanted to pass on in the teaching session was that a doctor's most fundamental role in relation to psychological medicine was to care. The two doctors/teachers agreed this is an experience that is difficult to teach and to convey, but nonetheless recognised the concept of the doctor as an invaluable drug.3 Hence this essay to explore whether doctors do, should, or ought to care and does it matter anyway?