Guest guest Posted January 13, 2011 Report Share Posted January 13, 2011 What makes a great doctor? " Great " is such a vague term. I am sure that many people have assembled a list of attributes to characterize a great doctor. My great grandfather Sterling Price Gammill was often considered the greatest physician in the Arkansas Ozark Mountains. It was said that he could deliver a baby better drunk than any other doc could while sober. Hmmm. Dual skills. Most influential for me was Bill Halseth, a cardiovascular surgeon. I spent a couple of years working with him as a surgical extern. I learned from him what " Dr. " stood for - " Drone. " I remember once we had a woman on the table (just a simple triple bypass) and we could not get her off the pump for seven hours - every time we tried she would start to sink. What did I learn? You stay focused and work and work and work. There is little glory in perseverance, but I think you would want to see it in any physician you appoint. Most mornings as we scrubbed for surgery he would ask me, " , what do you know for sure? " No matter how I responded he would reflect before he commented. All of us would love to know things for sure, but if truth be known, there is little or nothing we can know for sure. As to the docs who have built themselves grand pedestals on TV, the internet or the lecture circuits, they may not know much medicine (ask any medical school professor) or about health (Mercola shines a red light pocket laser on his steak before he dines), but I think they are all fine human beings who provide well for their families. A great medical person learns from their mistakes. A wonderful example is the nurse-administrator Florence Nightingale. During the Crimean War she was directly responsible for the infectious disease deaths of 16,000 young soldiers by insisting that they be held in the Scutari Barracks Hospital that was built over an open sewer. After the war she became obsessed with changing such practices and developed the concept of the pavilion style of open air wards subsequently saving millions of lives. I was once housed in such a ward in a military hospital (perforated ulcer) and can vouch for its value. You might be reading this thanks to Florence Nightingale. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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