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LETTERS: James P B O'Connor and Dominic R J Kanga Academic medicine: time for reinvention: Medical education, training, and research are under threat because academic medicine is undervalued BMJ 2004; 328: 45-b-46-b [Full text]

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Doctors are academics and research workers

Professor Frank Ellis OBE   (13 January 2004)

Doctors are academics and research workers 13 January 2004
Professor Frank Ellis OBE, Retired - Emeritus Consultant (Oxford Radcliffe NHS Trust) & Emeritus Consul. Bart's & Royal London n/a Send response to journal: Re: Doctors are academics and research workers	Dear Sir, I have got the idea from correspondence that Doctors are not considered “academic” or “research workers”. If this is so it shows inadequate appreciation. Who would dispute that a qualified Doctors duty when confronted with a patient is a study of facts so as to reach new conclusions about the patient’s troubles – the disabilities which are interfering with his peace of mind and bodily comfort. Moreover, who would dispute that the Doctor is academically qualified as well as legally licensed to do this and is earning his living by doing so. The recent correspondence in the BMJ on academic medicine and research has set me thinking on this subject although it is no longer my personal business. The human organism is similar to that of many other living creatures but is more difficult to understand completely because its complicated nervous system has resulted in a Mind. Both the patient and the Doctor are of this type of complexity. To solve the patients’ problems needs much individual research. Every patient is really a research problem and because all minds are different the solution in each case is different. But the Doctor has many patients to understand. From the point of view of qualification however, he is fitted for his tasks by learning about chemistry, physics, organic chemistry, genetics, anatomy, physiology, psychology, immunology and many other aspects of organic life. If this is done properly the Doctor must be a learned academic. What other aspect of academia requires such a wide vista of knowledge? When I was a student in Sheffield in the 1920’s we were required to pass the 3rd MB in anatomy and physiology a second time having already passed in these subjects in the 2nd MB; the object being to impress with its value in connection with actual patients instead of corpses. What other academics have to be so learned in so many aspects of knowledge? What other research workers have such confusing factors? Medicals should be appreciated as academics and research workers and their training and conditions of work recognised accordingly. The fact that they are not is probably responsible in part for the increasing influx of excellent women medical practitioners, indirectly linked with the increasing tendency of men to opt for law and financial management. Yours faithfully, Professor Frank Ellis OBE MD FRCP FRCR FACR(Hon.) DSc(Hon.) Competing interests: None declared