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Physician, Know Thyself

1999; American Board of Family Medicine; Volume: 12; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês

10.3122/jabfm.12.3.258

1558-7118

William Reichel,

Empathy and Medical Education

Know ThyselfPhysician, heal thyself and know thyself.Most residency directors can to some degree intuit the attitudes, beliefs, and values of the residents in training and can to some degree respond to the residents' values systems.The report by Saba,! ""What Do Family Physicians Believe and Value in Their Work?" in this issue of the JABFP consists of qualitative and anecdotal research that reflects the heterogeneity among family practice residents.Saba studied the rich but varied religious, spiritual, and philosophical beliefs of 143 residents at the culturally diverse San Francisco General Hospital.The religious beliefs, values, and spiritual perspectives of the residents are based on the development, religious training, and life journey of each resident.This collage of different perspectives by Saba simply shows that the Tower of Babel exists.We should all be aware that a heterogeneity of beliefs exists within any faith community.Among Protestants, Catholics, and Jewish people, there are those open to abortion, homosexuality, and the possibility of women providing leadership in the ministry, and there are those who are strongly opposed to each of these positions.Similarly there is heterogeneity within the great religions in response to why bad things happen to good people.Many in the Judeo-Christian-Islamic belief systems see a connection between our behavior and the events that occur in our life.Others hold that life is more random.Harold Kushner, in his classic book, When Bad Things Happen to Good People,2 holds this latter view.If a gunman on the street sprays bullets, Kushner cannot believe that God has selected the 1 or 2 bystanders who are killed and the others who are unharmed.Kushner believes the event is random, that God is not micromanaging all events.Others will visit the homes of slain victims and will say that the deceased are at home with God, God has