Thursday, May 15, 2008
All I know of medicine I learned at the movies
It sounded like the most light-hearted and superficial of sessions. Little did I guess how the entertainment industry's portrayals of docs would inspire heavy doses of self-reflection on the meaning of medicine among panelists and attendees. Topics ranged from the inexplicable appeal of House ("At least you know he's paying attention," said panelist Faith Fitzgerald) to the unfortunate realism of a patient laughing hysterically when a doctor provided his home phone number in As Good As It Gets.
There were of course the usual laments about insurance companies, workforce shortages and tort lawyers, but many bigger, unanswerable issues were raised. ("What do we do to recover a sense of integrity?" asked one panelist.)
One particularly interesting issue raised by the session was racial discrimination in medicine. In a film clip, Sidney Poitier played a black physician who was spit upon by the white mother of a patient. One contemporary parallel, which the group discussion touched upon but didn't delve too much into, was discrimination against IMGs. Session moderator Michael LaCombe asked IMGs in the audience how many felt discriminated against and almost none raised their hands. He was surprised, as was I, since just yesterday I heard a U.S. Congressman bemoan the shortage of "Caucasian" doctors. And it's certainly not unusual to hear dismay within medicine about the trend of IM residency slots being filled by IMGs instead of U.S. grads.
The general attitude at the session seemed to be that these issues of discrimination in medicine are on their way out, but I wonder. Is the American attitude toward IMGs (both among physicians and in the general public) the modern-day equivalent of the racism faced by Sidney Poitier's character in "No Way Out"?
posted by Stacey Butterfield at
1:03 PM
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Albert Fuchs, MD, FACP,
graduated from the University of California, Los Angeles School of
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spent three years as a full-time faculty member at UCLA School of
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David Katz, MD
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Matthew Mintz, MD, FACP, has practiced internal medicine for more
than a decade and is an Associate Professor of Medicine at an
academic medical center on the East Coast. His time is split
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Everything Health
Toni Brayer, MD, FACP, blogs about the rapid changes in science,
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FutureDocs
Vineet Arora, MD, FACP, is Associate Program Director for the
Internal Medicine Residency and Assistant Dean of Scholarship &
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Chicago. Her education and research focus is on resident duty
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John H. Schumann, MD, FACP, provides transparency on the workings
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Gut Check
Ryan Madanick, MD, ACP Member, is a gastroenterologist at the
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Just Oncology
Richard Just, MD, ACP Member, has 36 years in clinical practice of hematology and medical oncology. His blog is a joint publication with Gregg Masters, MPH.
KevinMD
Kevin Pho, MD, ACP Member, offers one of the Web's definitive sites
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Michael Kirsch, MD, FACP, addresses the joys and challenges of
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David M. Sack, MD, FACP, practices general gastroenterology at a
small community hospital in Connecticut. His blog is a series of
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medical ethics, in no particular order.
Reflections
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Kimberly Manning, MD, FACP, reflects on the personal side of being
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Neil Mehta, MBBS, MS, FACP, is interested in use of technology in
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American
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Also known as the Green Journal, the American Journal of Medicine
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Clinical Correlations
A collaborative medical blog started by Neil Shapiro, MD, ACP
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Interact
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Michael Benjamin, MD, ACP member, doesn't accept industry money so
he can create an independent, clinician-reviewed space on the
Internet for physicians to report and comment on the medical news
of the day.
PLoS
Blog
The Public Library of Science's open access materials include a
blog.
White Coat Rants
One of the most popular anonymous blogs written by an emergency
room physician.
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