Humanistic qualities of physicians: A view of Japanese residents

Dear Sir

A physician's humanism correlates with patient satisfaction and the training of caring physicians to acquire and cultivate humanistic skills is of importance in medical education. Although certain traits physicians should embody are suggested in statements published by the Japan Medical Association, virtually no studies on physicians’ humanistic qualities have been conducted in Japan. Little is known about how health care professionals actually define humanistic attributes of physicians and no studies provided insight into factors either to encourage or discourage physicians to become humane practitioners. In light of this, we conducted a preliminary qualitative study of interviewing 22 residents regarding physician humanism.

Questions asked about the nature of humanism and factors that either enhance or interfere with developing such humanities. The contents of interviews were analysed using content analysis technique (Mayring 2004). The subjects thought that since physicians make critical decisions about patients’ lives they have to embody humanism. The importance of drawing a line between empathizing with the patient and becoming emotionally involved was stressed. A sense of mission, light professional duties, a better understanding of their patients, and having a role model were the factors to encourage residents to embody humanism. Because of the ambiguity surrounding what humanism means and how to assess it, as well as hectic practice in real life, it is difficult for residents to embody ideal humanism. Unanswered questions among participants included as to how far to get involved with a patient's personal and social problems and to what degree a good physician should meet a patient's needs.

This qualitative study elucidated that humanism in medicine is multifaceted with a variety of problems to be solved for young physicians to embody humanism. Since this study marks only the first stage of study and further research is needed. The issue of medical humanism is rather new in Japan. We believe that this study is pioneering one and that it may start some broader discussion concerning medical professionalism in Japan.

Atsushi Asai

Kumamoto University

1-1-1 Honjo, Kumamoto 860-8556, Japan

[email protected]

Motoki Ohnishi

Aomori Public Health Center

Seiji Bito

National Tokyo Medical Center

Nobuyuki Furutani

Jikei University

Teruo Ino and Katsutomo Kimura

Fujita Health University

Hiroshi Imura

Izuka Hospital

Akitoshi Hayashi and Tsuguya Fukui

St. Luke International Hospital