The Culture Of Medicine.

With plans for the new administration to focus on changing the health care environment an article from ScienceDaily (Jan. 5, 2009) on the current culture in the nation’s medical schools is valuable. Everybody is familiar with the stereotypes of medical education from the student perspective: grueling hours, little recognition, and even less glory. The author of this study, Brandeis University senior scientist Dr. Linda Pololi states ” serious problems exist in the relational culture affecting medical faculty vitality, professionalism, and general productivity, and are linked to retention. "These aspects of the culture undermine the goals of medical institutions and are antithetical to fostering superior patient care, biomedical research, and educational excellence," further “We cannot be optimally successful in researching the causes of disease and finding new treatments without rewarding collaboration and openness, rather than competitive individualism." Comment: Without changing this culture and the focus from training specialists to caring for the communities in which they exist by focusing on maximizing production of primary care physicians there will be nothing except a paper change to the health care delivered to our population.