Declining altruism in medicine

Jones, Roger

doi:10.1136/bmj.324.7338.624

Cited by 66 publications

(52 citation statements)

References 6 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…There is a significant belief in the literature that altruism within the medical profession is declining (Jones, 2002, Francis, 2010, Coulehan and Williams, 2001This may be expressed for example, by the general decline in the number of out-of-hours home visits made by primary care practitioners or the more explicit choices now being made by junior doctors in order to achieve a better work-life balance, both of which can have implications for patient care (Jones, 2002). This was reflected in the findings from this study when students prioritised factors such as quality of life over the impact they could have on health outcomes when considering locations of future practice.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

How do undergraduate medical students perceive social accountability?

McCrea

Murdoch‐Eaton

2014

Medical Teacher

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Aim.The concept of Social accountability within undergraduate training is embedded within the remit of Medical schools. Little is known of how medical students perceive social accountability, recognise aspects of their training contributing to the development of this concept and cultivate the underpinning values. Methods.Students nearing graduation were recruited to participate in focus groups designed to explore their perceptions of social accountability, which curricular aspects had contributed to their understanding, and to investigate the implications of individual variations in training. Results.Students expressed limited appreciation of the concept of social accountability and acknowledged little explicit teaching around underpinning core concepts such as awareness of local health needs, advocacy and nurturing of altruism. However, participants recognised numerous aspects of the course and learning initiatives as impacting on their attitudes towards this concept implicitly. Conclusion:This study highlights areas of their undergraduate training that students recognise as having the greatest impact on their development into socially accountable professionals. It poses some significant challenges for health care educators in addressing unintended consequences, including an outcomes driven educational approach, in reducing students capacity or willingness to engage in curricular challenges often designed to embed this concept. words3

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

How do undergraduate medical students perceive social accountability?

McCrea

Murdoch‐Eaton

2014

Medical Teacher

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Some have even argued that altruism is on the decline in medical practice. 1 In this issue of JGIM, Riggs et al 2 report on a fascinating study in which they examined whether appeals to altruism would reduce patient requests for overused medical services identified in the Choosing Wisely campaign. Choosing Wisely aims to improve health care quality and control costs by limiting the use of common but overused medical tests and treatments.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Altruism and Medical Practice

Feldman

2017

J GEN INTERN MED

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

“…For a large part, doctors and nurses in rich and poor countries express their reasons for leaving their posts in a strikingly similar manner. For doctors, much of it can be summarized in terms of diminishing professional autonomy, increasing accountability pressure, government 'meddling', bureaucratic chores, lack of recognition by patients and authorities and generally reduced social status (Edwards et al, 2002;Jones, 2002;Smith, 2001). Doctors in low-income countries will usually add low pay and poor working conditions to this list of demotivating factors.…”

Section: Common Motives?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Health workforce imbalances in times of globalization: brain drain or professional mobility?

Marchal

Kegels

2003

Int. J. Health Plann. Mgmt.

113

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

SUMMARYThe health workforce is of strategic importance to the performance of national health systems as well as of international disease control initiatives. The brain drain from rural to urban areas, and from developing to industrialized countries is a long-standing phenomenon in the health professions but has in recent years taken extreme proportions, particularly in Africa. Adopting the wider perspective of health workforce balances, this paper presents an analysis of the underlying mechanisms of health professional migration and possible strategies to reduce its negative impact on health services.The opening up of international borders for goods and labour, a key strategy in the current liberal global economy, is accompanied by a linguistic shift from 'human capital flight' and 'brain drain' to 'professional mobility' or 'brain circulation'. In reality, this mobility is very asymmetrical, to the detriment of less developed countries, which lose not only much-needed human resources, but also considerable investments in education and fiscal income.It is argued that low professional satisfaction and the decreasing social valuation of the health professionals are important determinants of the decreasing attraction of the health professions, which underlies both the push from the exporting countries, as well as the pull from the recipient countries. Solutions should therefore be based on this wider perspective, interrelating health workforce imbalances between, but also within developing and developed countries.

show abstract

Declining altruism in medicine

Cited by 66 publications

References 6 publications

How do undergraduate medical students perceive social accountability?

How do undergraduate medical students perceive social accountability?

Altruism and Medical Practice

Health workforce imbalances in times of globalization: brain drain or professional mobility?

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About