‘One finger in the throat and one in the rectum’ produced a competent doctor in the 19th century but the ideal characteristics of modern doctors are not so easily defined. This topic is continually being mulled over in homes, waiting rooms, academic conferences, government think tanks and the nation's media, but determining what makes a good doctor is difficult. The General Medical Council's Good Medical Practice' lists 14 specific duties of a doctor (Box 1) but in one survey, participants from 24 countries yielded 70 different responses about what makes a good doctor, ranging from the typical necessity for compassion and competence to the more unusual courage and creativity.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
BabbieE.The practice of social research (1979) Belmot, CA: Wadsworth
2.
BakerR.ThompsonJ.Innovation in general practice: is the gap between training and non-training practices getting wider?British Journal of General Practice (1995) 45(395): p. 297–300
3.
BreakwellG.M.HammondS.Fife-SchawC.R.Research methods in psychology (1995) London: Sage
4.
BrittenN.Qualitative research: qualitative interviews in medical research. British Medical Journal (1995) 311: p. 251–253
5.
BurnardP.A method of analysing interview transcripts in qualitative research. Nurse Education Today (1991) p. 461–466
6.
CouchmanW.DawsonJ.Nursing and health-care research: the use and applications of research for nurses and other health care professionals (1990) London: Scutari
7.
DornanM.PringleM.The practice manager: a rising star. British Medical Journal (1991) 303: p. 146–147
8.
FoxD.Fundamentals of research in nursing (1982) Norwalk, NJ: Appleton-Century-Crofts
9.
General Medical Council. Duties of a doctor (1995) London: GMC
10.
General Medical Council. Good medical practice (1998) London: GMC
11.
General Medical Council. Maintaining a good medical practice (1998) London: GMC
12.
HurwitzB.What's a good doctor, and how can you make one?British Medical Journal (2002) 325: p. 667–668
13.
MaguireP.PitceathlyC.Key communication skills and how to acquire them. British Medical Journal (2002) 325: p. 697–700
14.
MaguireP.FairbairnS.FletcherC.Consultant skills of young doctors: benefits of feedback training in interviewing as students persist. British Medical Journal (1986) 292: p. 1573–1578
15.
McManusI.GordonD.WinderB.Duties of a doctor: UK doctors and good medical practice. Quality in Health Care (2000) 9: p. 14–22
16.
PaiceE.HeardS.MossF.How important are role models in making good doctors?British Medical Journal (2002) 325: p. 707–710
17.
ParleM.JonesB.MaguireP.Maladaptive coping and affective disorders in cancer patients. Psychological Medicine (1996) 26: p. 735–744
18.
PetersJ.McManusI.HutchinsonA.Good medical practice: comparing the views of doctors and the general population. Medical Education (2001) 35: p. 52
19.
PopeC.MaysN.Reaching the parts other methods cannot reach: an introduction to qualitative methods in health and health services research. British Medical Journal (1995) 311: p. 42–45
20.
PringleM.WilsonT.GrolR.Measuring “goodness” in individuals and healthcare systems. British Medical Journal (2002) 325: p. 704–707
21.
RamirezA.GrahamJ.RichardsM.Mental health of hospital consultants: the effects of stress and satisfaction of work. Lancet (1995) 16: p. 724–728
22.
RoterD.HallK.KernD.Improving physicians' interviewing skills and reducing patients' emotional distress. Archives of Internal Medicine (1995) 155: p. 1877–1884
23.
ScamblerG.Sociology as applied to medicine (1997) London: Saunders
24.
SilvermanJ.KurtzS.DraperJ.Skills for communicating with patients (1998) Oxford: Radcliffe Medical Press
25.
StraussA.Qualitative data analysis for social scientists (1986) Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
26.
TonksA.Summary of responses: what is a good doctor and how can we make one?British Medical Journal (2002) 325: p. 711
27.
ToynbeeP.Between aspiration and reality. British Medical Journal (2002) 325: p. 718
