The Doctor Syndrome

Wikipedia has an article about "white coat syndrome;" we Copts jokingly diagnose our grandmothers with "parking lot syndrome" on a weekly basis; and I think every medical student has diagnosed himself with at least one syndrome during his med school tenure (I know I have, multiple times, all turning out to be a figment of my hyperactive imagination; read: illness anxiety disorder). My best friend recently diagnosed me with another syndrome she cleverly made up to lump all my medical-school-induced faults together: the Doctor Syndrome.

I recently posted about confidence and what it means to me in the medical setting ("Be Confident, Small Immortals"). It seems natural to follow up with a post about arrogance and how to fight it. We've all seen it - the attending who walks around like he's God's gift to humanity, the doctor who makes his patient feel like an idiot for not knowing what "hypertension" means, the inexplicable arrogance that seems to exude from too many physicians just because they're so specialized in one field and probably make a lot of money doing it.

It's almost inevitable. Don't get me wrong - physicians work VERY VERY HARD to become what they are - medical school is NOT EASY, residency is MISERABLE, and the amount of sacrifice one has to make is sometimes just NOT WORTH IT. From the beginning of medical school to the end of residency, you are beaten down, trampled on, humiliated, embarrassed, reminded daily that you're at the very bottom of the totem pole. So when you finally achieve some measure of respect as an attending, it's easy for that respect to turn into arrogance. Now there is some confidence in your own medical knowledge, and you are privy to such intimate knowledge of the human body in a secret world that so few others are part of.

I think the best way to combat this is to remind yourself that YOU DON'T KNOW EVERYTHING. Having a good friend who can tell you, "Stop talking like you know everything," is a GREAT way to start. Surrounding yourself with kind, decent people who know a lot about subjects you know nothing about keeps you grounded.

Another thing I think can help - and this is pure speculation on my part, as I am not yet practicing - is to focus solely on your patients. Instead of thinking, "I'm great, I'm an attending, I'm all that, I have all of two lowly interns reporting to me," it might help to think, "I have a very sick patient in the next room, what can I do to make this patient better? May God grant me the clarity and wisdom to be able to give this patient the best quality care while he is in my hands." As C. S. Lewis wrote, "True humility is not thinking less of yourself; it is thinking of yourself less."

So, my fellow Coptic MDs, do yourselves a favor. Keep your head down and plough through. Don't forget that there's a whole ton you don't know. Don't be diagnosed with the Doctor Syndrome.