The Most Important Attribute: Stakeholder Perspectives on What Matters Most in a Physician

Abstract

Background 
 Most people can think of important attributes they believe physicians should have. The CanMEDS framework defines domains of attributes in medical training (leader, medical expert, scholar, communicator, advocate, collaborator and professional). Whether some are more valued by different stakeholders is unknown. Previous research has shown that patients can receive sub-optimal care if physician and patient expectations of a healthcare encounter differ. This study sought to identify what different stakeholders identified as the single most important attribute for a physician to possess.
 
 Methods 
 A simple survey asked the question ‘what is the single most important attribute a physician should have?’ at a single academic teaching hospital and affiliated medical school. The survey was administered to medical students, doctors, nurses, patients and caregivers. Age and gender were also collected. Responses were placed into domains of response and analyzed to identify trends. The primary outcome is a descriptive analysis of the findings.
 
 Results 
 From 362 individuals who responded, 109 different responses were given. The single most common answer was ‘compassion’ (n=86). Responses were categorized to 5 domains: caring (n=209); professional/collaborator (n=58); medical expert (n=54); communicator (n=32); and other (n=9). Women chose attributes in the caring domain more frequently than men (64% v 49%), though this domain was the most popular for both genders. Medical students were less likely to highly value communication attributes.
 
 Conclusions 
 All stakeholder group identified attributes in the caring domain as being most important. This result acts as a reminder to the healthcare profession.

A Scoping Review on the Concept of Physician Caring

“… 100 In addition to the medical practitioners sampled, 7 studies involved multidisciplinary practitioners 44 , 81 , 83 , 85 – 88 and 3 studies involved patients. 81 , 83 , 84 Thirteen studies used qualitative methods, 44 , 77 – 79 , 81 , 82 , 84 , 85 , 88 – 91 , 98 11 used questionnaires, 80 , 83 , 86 , 87 , 92 – 97 , 99 and one used mixed methods. 100 …”

“…Other studies included caring as a component of values in medical education, 98 medical professionalism, 95 performance in medical education, 96 physician attributes, 87 and professional-patient boundaries 80 (Appendix 6 ).…”

“…42 , 45 , 46 , 57 , 64 , 65 , 69 , 74 , 75 , 84 , 92 , 93 , 96 Additional contradictions exist for the roles of competence, medical expertise, and curing, which has been described as part of caring in some models 49 , 58 , 70 , 73 , 84 , 88 and separate from caring in other models. 41 , 61 , 62 , 78 , 85 – 87 , 89 , 94 , 99 …”

“… 45 , 49 , 50 , 59 , 60 , 62 , 66 , 67 , 71 , 74 , 81 , 90 , 97 , 99 A few concepts frame the psychosocial aspects of medical practice as caring. 78 , 87 , 89 …”

“…For example, while some physicians prioritize compassion and empathy, 62 , 75 , 96 others prioritize conscientiousness 84 and communication, 73 and a minority most value medical expertise. 87 …”