Table 2 Elements of their clinical performance that exemplary physicians report as rewarding
Main category | Subcategory | Example(s) |
|---|---|---|
1) Service/Help 25% (37) | To patients To colleagues To trainees | “Being helpful to patients, residents, students and sometimes even co-workers.” |
2) Doctor-patient relationship 18% (27) | With patients With colleagues With trainees | “I love dealing with patients and the good therapeutic and personal relationships I have established over the years”; “The trust that is established makes it possible to maintain a relationship that goes beyond mere healthcare.” |
3) Knowledge and excellence seeking 12% (18) | “Constant learning with each problem.” | |
4) Speciality Characteristics and Focus on the Person 8% (12) | Comprehensive care of an individual Healing vs. curing Continuity Longitudinal Universal Polyvalence | “Family medicine is about caring for people, and that’s why it’s the nicest by far”; “Helping to improve people’s quality of life and supporting them even though we don’t cure them most of the time”; “Polyvalence: not knowing what is going to come through the door and the possibility of developing very different skills to deal with the various health problems”; “I make health care universal.” |
5) Collaboration/Teamwork 7.4% (11) | “I am enriched through the experiences that my colleagues share.” | |
6) Self-fulfilment/Meaning 6.7% (10) | “I see meaning in what I do, even if we don’t cure people”; “It allows me to fulfil myself personally and professionally.” | |
7) Happiness 6.7% (10) | “I simply enjoy what I do and I can’t tell you why.” | |
8) Teaching 6% (9) | “I enjoy teaching my residents.” | |
9) Sense of effectiveness 4% (6) | “It’s the feeling of a job well done”; “I enjoy ‘good’ activity, a well done Medical History, for example. I could go on, with many things we do well every day.” | |
10) Other 6% (9) | Recognition Material aspects Applying specific techniques Physical environment | “I feel useful to society because I feel the recognition of my colleagues, the recognition of society and because I feel that the institution where I work understands my problems”; “I find certain procedures stimulating, like ultrasounds, dermatoscopy, and so on”; “It gives me enough money to have a good quality of life” |