Rapid Responses to:
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Rapid Responses: Rapid Responses published:
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Uninspired?
- Sarah H Pennington (10 May 2008)
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Tongue in cheek or just plain inflammatory
- mark spears (10 May 2008)
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Nonsense
- David Menzies (10 May 2008)
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I disagree
- David J Lloyd (11 May 2008)
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The secret lives of doctors
- Chris S Wilkinson (12 May 2008)
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Missing the point
- David Menzies (13 May 2008)
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Every coin has two sides
- Lakunle A Jaiyesimi (14 May 2008)
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The Real Lives of Doctors
- Karishma Sethi (14 May 2008)
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Et Tu Brutus?
- Jayaprakash Ayillath Gosalakkal (14 May 2008)
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The Power of the Ordinary
- Graeme Mackenzie (15 May 2008)
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Inspired by disease and death around me
- Olusola O.A. Oni (17 May 2008)
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err
- ben dean (21 May 2008)
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Sarah H Pennington, Paediatric SpR Derby City Hospital, DE22 3NE
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I am distressed for Dr Martyn that he finds our profession uninspiring. I disagree with him. As a child, I was on a number of occasions a patient under Dr Gordon Hesling, a consultant paediatrician who inspired me to follow in his footsteps. By the time I was six years old I was announcing to all and sundry that one day I too would be a consultant paediatrician. Now, so many years and hours and exams later, I am within a year of my CCT and that dream is almost within my grasp. Through my long years of training, there have been colleagues who inspired me, and colleagues who frustrated me, situations that have driven me to laughter or to tears, patients I will never remember and others that I could never forget. I remember my first patient who died, my first paediatric resuscitation, my first preterm delivery. I remember the first letter of thanks for helping to save a life, and the first time a parent thanked me even though their child had died. I remember the first time I broke the news to parents that their child was dying, and the most recent time that I did so. Whilst I do agree that we need lives outside medicine, this is not just a job that we do. In amongst the daily grind, the management lunacies, the government initiatives, the inadequate resources, the abuse and the routine, are the gems of life we are privileged to see, and the times that we can make such a difference. I am inspired by medicine, and if the day should come that I am not, I believe that will be the day that I leave. I hope that day will be a long time in coming and, if it should come, I hope that before it does I may, in my turn, inspire at least one junior doctor. Competing interests: None declared |
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mark spears, clinical research fellow gartnavel general hospital, G12 -YN
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Hi ive just read this piece and felt the need to reply but Im not sure if i have misread. Did the author write this tongue in cheek? Does the author actually know any doctors? I can't even be bothered to discuss in detail the extract at the top of the article as it is patently designed to annoy. I will say this though. Given the amount of work and sacrifice of time, relationships and experiences that are required to become a doctor i dont think it is a career that you just do because you cant do anything else! Medicine provides a great deal of stimulation due to the need to constantly update, revise and challenge your knowledge and that is probably the reason behind the qouted doctor's lack of hobbies. His work (and many other doctors work) obviously provides him with ample questions to research in his private time and given his absorption in these questions he probably has little time left for other interests. He is an example of the driven practitioner who instead of clocking off at the end of the day goes home and thinks about what could have been done better or what was missed. This might seem as an obsessive waste of time to the author of the piece (as he is not particpating in a hobby such as on-line poker or working on his short game) but it does results in better patient care and an increase in the knowledge and wisdom of the practitioner and is a manifestation of how doctors care for their patients. This type of DEDICATION also serves as an example of how the practice of medicine is not about plucking a diagnosis out of the air and applying a set treatment but is full of nuances and subtleties which require constant training and preparation. All doctors who care about their duties do this with varying extremes. We all recognise the need to relax & unwind but the work always comes home with you! Competing interests: None declared |
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David Menzies, SpR Emergency Medicine Dublin, Ireland
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It is a shame that an editorial with such potential is tarnished with such a disparaging by line. I would normally find myself in agreement with anyone who suggests that a broader education and field of interests promotes better clinical practice and a better life balance. However, it is insulting to suggest - even if it is tounge-in-cheek - that doctors pursued their careers due to the absence of talent elsewhere. I am a doctor, I enjoy my job and I am good at it. It was not my first career choice (I originally wanted to be a vet). Medicine is not just a science, there is art in how it is practiced too. Perhaps the author has overlooked this in his narrow interpretation of 'talent'. The humanities have much to offer the medical profession. External interests are to be encouraged. But this does not mean that doctors have no imagination, dreams or empathy. Competing interests: I am a doctor not a poet, artist or playwright. |
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David J Lloyd, GP HA2 7DU
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In our family the BMJ is read on the loo. Today I read this disgraceful article; condemning an entire profession to mediocrity and second best. I can't compose like Mozart or paint like Picasso, the complexity of modern medicine is sufficiently taxing and challenging for me. My patients do not expect me to write a novel in my spare time-I think they would rather I kept up to date and knew what I was talking about. The BMJ will continue to enjoy its position in my life-in the toilet. Competing interests: I am a Doctor |
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Chris S Wilkinson, Maternal Fetal Medicine Subspecialist Women's and Children's Hospital. North Adelaide South Australia 5006
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I found that Chris Martyn's musings struck a cord with me that probably would not have a few years ago (the zeal of youth as shown by some of these earlier responses becomes tempered with time, by an insight into how equally important humanity is to intellect in medical practice). Appreciation of life outside medicine (where everybody else lives, including most of your patients) is much more likely to be achieved if you also have an identity, even if humble, outside of medicine. Competing interests: None declared |
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David Menzies, Spr Emergency Medicine Dublin, Ireland
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Chris Wilkinson misses the point. I (and others) are not saying there is no role or benefit for life outside medicine. Rather we take offence at the suggestion that we became doctors because we were good for nothing else. A life outside medicine or outside interests does not have to extend to writing books or painting pictures. Reading books and watching films is equally valid - 'The Diving Bell and the Butterfly' and 'Wit' are two that come to mind - I doubt very much that there is a doctor who doesn't do a little of either. Maybe playing with your children, talking with your partner, or engaging in debate with a friend do not count either? Competing interests: None declared |
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Lakunle A Jaiyesimi, Intern Pharmacist GlaxoSmithKline Pharmaceutical Nigeria Limited
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The Secret lives of Doctors needs a meticulous assessment to comprehensively decipher its content. However, in recent times, it is rather fashionable to overlook the gaps between expressions. I have decided, in a usual manner, to read between the lines and I see that Chris has made certain valid points that responses have deliberately or otherwise omitted. I strongly agree that the talent and the academic knowledge inspire differently. That the one emotionally charges you and the other only places you at a pretty secure position for a defined period, albeit adding to that the pride in belonging to a body of professionals. Amongst professional circles to which i am privileged to belong, i have noticed that there are very common events and famous personalities that are completely unknown to members of such bodies. And to add to that, a crowning ignorance of their own abilities. The pride keeps you going in desperate circles of superfluous melancholy. And in the end, years are left as unspent time in carousel. If I am right, the author is not implying that Doctors should not be Doctors, but that as Doctors, we might be losing an aspect of ourselves which will be elevating if revisited. Yet, I must confess that there are Doctors who are great artist in their own right and who practice the medical profession ethically and a high sense of responsibility. Competing interests: None declared |
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Karishma Sethi, Medical Student Imperial College London SW7 2AZ|
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It is very sad that the article by Martyn paints such a negative view of the medical profession. To state that doctors are in their profession by default is rather flippant. A decision to enter the medical profession is one that could never be undertaken lightly, due to the intense competition for both medical school places and post-graduate jobs. Medical school interviews place a great deal of importance on the extra-curricular activities a candidate has. Only the most well-rounded individuals are considered for places. As well as being avidly interested in science, I am also passionate about Asian Classical dance, which I spoke about at my medical school interview. Having performed a lot and passed examinations, the question was put to me as to why I hadn't considered becoming a dancer. The answer to that question is straight- forward. The world of performing arts is cut-throat and offers no job security. I wanted to keep on enjoying dance as much as I always did as a child, and so far I have managed to do so-I dance for 4 hours every week alongside studying medicine. I did choose medicine over the performing arts, because medicine ensured a secure career with a decent wage, as you mentioned in your article, however, I can assure you that I have no problems trying to convince myself that "I am making a useful contribution to public good." The article seems to imply that the role of a doctor can be undertaken by any member of the general public? Yes, hypothetically, anyone could spend six years at medical school and call themselves a doctor. The question is, how many people do? Why is the drop-out rate after first year medical school so high? Because those without the passion and caring nature cannot cope. Only a passion to do medicine gets you through the gruelling exams year upon year. The final point suggesting doctors blame those who have illnesses such as HIV infection or cirrhosis is interesting. I think however, in reality, the complete opposite is true. Prevention may be better than cure, however this does not mean that a doctor blames a patient for their ailment. Such cases in which often the only treatment a doctor can give is for a patient’s symptoms, does not evoke anger inside a doctor, but sadness at the futility of premature death and unfulfilled lives. These experiences nurture a desire to educate others of such devastating communicable diseases, so as to prevent their occurrence in the future – the essence of public health. The profession of medicine demands intellectual rigour, dedication, physical stamina and a duty of care towards those who are sick and infirm. Idealistic stuff maybe but definitely not for the faint hearted! References 1. Martyn, C, 2008,The Secret Lives of Doctors,BMJ,336,1044 Competing interests: None declared |
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Jayaprakash Ayillath Gosalakkal, Consultant Paediatric Neurology Leicester Royal Infirmary LE1 5WW
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We are reminded every day by our young service managers wet behind their ears, ministers, trustboard members etc as to how insignificant our profession is. We are able to shrug that all of because we know that it is untrue and that even with all the guidelines and incident forms the medical professional is if not the king pin pretty much at the centre of medical care.So what is one to make of this article in a journal funded by our subcriptions?Tounge deeply embedded in the cheek? checking our masochism which has been institutionalized by attacks on the medical profession by all and sundry or to check out our sense of humour. One could dismiss it as a rant or sadly say Et tu Brutus? Competing interests: A medical professional in the NHS who thinks he is reasonably clever |
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Graeme Mackenzie, OUT OF HOURS GP Whitehaven
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The world is run by ordinary people. Indeed the effects of ordinary people not turning up for work are often much more immediate than the non appearance of the usually pathologically inflated egos of extraordinary people. I decry the whole trend mentioned in this article that unless you do something different, your life is a waste. How would these "different" people know what was different without all of us doing the same? Better a life spent helping people and meeting the endless challenge of doctoring than sitting for many hours a day moving chess pieces on a board, or painting oddly shaped women or doing one sport several hours a day. Monotonous and pointless or what? Competing interests: None declared |
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Olusola O.A. Oni, Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon LE7 7WA
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I grew up in a village where you were lucky to make your tenth birthday. It was not unusual to arrive at school to find an empty desk, the occupier having died the night before. My grandmother suffered appalling pain for a week or two before eventually she could be transported to Ibadan, some fifty miles away, to have a simple parotid abscess incised and drained. The bloke across the road from us fell off a palm tree and eviscerated himself. His slow death from peritonitis was the most distressing I have ever witnessed. My cousin was in isolation for weeks whimpering for companionship having contracted small pox. 50 years later I still have nightmares about him. These were the reasons why at the age of seven I decided to be a doctor. I read somewhere: 'Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you' Christopher Martyn and some so-called 'great and good of medicine' are insecure people who over the last decade or so have inflicted their own disability on the profession. They are destroying our profession. The time has come for the profession to stand up to them. Competing interests: A life dedicated to medicine. |
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ben dean, sho oxford
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The author appears to see the world only through his eyes, and in doing so demonstrates a remarkable inability to relate to anyone but himself. Perhaps this is why Christopher Martyn would not have been inspired by a career in medicine. "Although the practice of medicine is by no means a dishonourable way of making a living, there’s something decidedly uninspired about it." This statement gives the author's dislike of medicine away from the start, I always thought that it was important to try to undertand the points of view and motivations of others; I would not be so arrogant as to write off the job of associate editor of the BMJ as being uninspiring, even if the current associate editor does choose to write off the practice of medicine and those who practice it because he simply does not like it himself. "On the whole, people don’t become doctors because they were destined to do so but because they weren’t good enough at anything else." Actually, if the author chose to research his piece before putting pen to paper he may have found a few flaws in this little theory. Doctors on the whole are a pretty able bunch, maybe we are not quite as mighty as associate editors of the BMJ, but we cannot all be perfect and inspiring all the time. Then the final two paragraphs are used to write off all of us doctors as being one dimensional bores who dictate treatment to patients, reacting with brute aggression should a stupid patient choose to ignore our mighty advice. If the author knew a few more doctors then he may realise that quite a few medics are amongst the most rounded and all round people about. I feel no anger, not even the smallest touch of aggression towards the author, I am just dissappointed that someone choses to assasinate a whole profession when he seems to know so very little about that which he assassinates. Medicine fascinates many of us, but we do not expect everyone to find it inspiring, we are all individuals after all, with different tastes, interests and motivations. Different things inspire us all to varying degrees, the world would be a very dull place if we all had the same inspirations. However I would not dream to label Physicists as being uninspired because I found Physics boring, or to label artists uninspired because I had no penchant for art. Medicine is an art form and it teaches one to keep an open mind, this is one of the most inspiring things about it for me. On the whole medicine and the human contact that it brings teaches one to see things through the eyes of others, and not to jump to conclusions or write people off in a judgmental manner. I do not seek to say medicine is better or worse than anything else, or that doctors are better or worse than other professions or other groups of people. All I do know is that the vast majority of us would not seek to call other groups of people uninspired and boring simply because we did not share the same tastes as them. Competing interests: None declared |
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