Physician, Humble Thyself – Humility In Medicine

September 12, 2024

Written by Shannon Markus

Spoon Feed
Physician humility is crucial for tackling modern healthcare challenges, building patient trust, and fostering collaboration in medical environments. However, significant challenges exist in cultivating humility and require substantial individual and collective actions to ensure the integrity of the medical profession, enhance patient care, and support healthcare providers’ well-being.

Tell ’em be humble…Sit down
Physician humility—emphasizing realistic self-assessment, a focus on others’ well-being, and appreciation for the privilege of caregiving—is crucial in various aspects of medical practice, including learning, managing errors, tolerating uncertainty, and fostering trust and teamwork. However, traditional medical values face challenges from factors like organizational exploitation, contributing to burnout and dissatisfaction. This has led to an identity crisis in medicine, where many struggle to reconcile ideals with the realities of practice. The article suggests that humility could help reimagine the professional identity of physicians, offering benefits such as improved learning, error management, and communication.

Weaknesses of the review include the lack of a universally accepted definition of physician humility. Moreover, the challenges in cultivating humility are significant, with intrapersonal challenges (e.g., emotionally taxing self-reflection), interpersonal challenges (e.g., fear of having competency questioned), and sociocontextual barriers (e.g., feelings of power or entitlement hindering humility).

How will this change my practice?
I believe that reaching our highest potential as physicians involves balancing pride in our craft with acceptance of our fallibility. As a great educator used to tell us as residents: “The eyes cannot see what the mind does not know.” The review highlights the importance of maintaining a balanced perspective on our abilities while staying open to learning and collaboration. This encourages me to perform honest self-assessments of my knowledge and priorities and seek advice from others.

Source
Physician Humility: A Review and Call to Revive Virtue in Medicine. Ann Intern Med. 2024 Jul 30. doi: 10.7326/M24-0842. Online ahead of print. PMID: 39074373.