Building on Strengths: An Affirmational and Systems-Level Approach to Revisiting Character in Medicine

Abstract

Although U.S. medical education has continued to place increased emphasis on defining competency standards and ensuring accountability to the public, health care inequities have persisted, several basic health outcomes have worsened, public trust in the health care system has eroded, and moral distress, burnout, and attrition among practicing physicians have escalated. These opposing trends beg the question of how the “good doctor” concept may be strengthened. In this perspective, the authors argue that revisiting the construct of physician character from an affirmational perspective could meaningfully improve medical education’s impact on overall health by more holistically conceptualizing what—and who—a good doctor is. The authors introduce positive psychology’s framework of character strengths, probe the distinction between character strengths and medical professionalism, and summarize the role of character strengths in promoting physician engagement and well-being in health care work. They contend that a systems-level approach to cultivating character strengths will foster physician moral agency and well-being and, by extension, transformational change in health care. Consistent with best practice in modern character education, the authors propose that institutions mindfully cultivate moral community among all stakeholders (students, faculty, staff, postgraduate trainees, and patients) and that moral community interaction centers on each member’s personal aspirations with respect to living a good life, guided by the character strengths framework and informed by patient perspectives.