Changing society: changing role of doctors

doi:10.1136/bmj.320.7247.1417

BMJ 2000;320:1417-1418 ( 27 May )

Editorials

Changing society: changing role of doctors

The stresses must not be allowed to get too great

Papers p 1437

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

The role of the doctor has changed drastically since the 1930s and 1940s, when practitioners struggled with unbelievably largenumbers of patients in their districts. Today the numbers of patientsare much smaller, but their qualitative demands are much higher.At the same time the high status of the doctor has been diminished.These changing patterns of work and position in society are creatingnew, and damaging,stresses.

Our own studies in the 1980s at the Swedish National Institute for Psychosocial Factors and Health showed that doctors hadlonger working hours and more exposure to shiftwork schedules(being on call) but also more stimulating work than men and womenin most other occupations.¹ Doctors also claimed that in relationto most aspects of their work they had reasonable control overtheir working situation $---$ more than in most other occupations. Sincethen the situation haschanged.

Recent studies of the working . . . [Full text of this article]

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