Re: On the nature of being a professional

Bravo, Dr Chow! I’m retired from practice now after 50 years as a GP/FP and found your article in the April issue to be a breath of fresh air [BCMJ 2021;63:105]. The profession is facing decreasing numbers of physicians. Physician burnout has become a byword. Physicians are losing the esteem from their patients, while other health care professionals are enjoying increasing popularity from their patients and clients. To be a physician was once to also be a trusted member of a patient’s and their family members’ special circle, trusted as a caring friend, but alas, the pressures of practice, bureaucracy, paperwork, and rules of conduct have disenfranchised us from the art of medicine, often creating a seemingly adversarial relationship with those we care for. Your philosophy of medical practice illustrates a means to bring back the very real joy of being that caring professional friend to those we care for.

Thank you for the wise encouragement.
—Brian S. Pound, MBBS, LRCP, MRCS, LMCC
Victoria

This letter was submitted in response to “On the nature of being a professional.”

Brian S. Pound, MBBS, LRCP, MRCS, LMCC. Re: On the nature of being a professional. BCMJ, Vol. 63, No. 5, June, 2021, Page(s) 198-199 - Letters.



Above is the information needed to cite this article in your paper or presentation. The International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) recommends the following citation style, which is the now nearly universally accepted citation style for scientific papers:
Halpern SD, Ubel PA, Caplan AL, Marion DW, Palmer AM, Schiding JK, et al. Solid-organ transplantation in HIV-infected patients. N Engl J Med. 2002;347:284-7.

About the ICMJE and citation styles

The ICMJE is small group of editors of general medical journals who first met informally in Vancouver, British Columbia, in 1978 to establish guidelines for the format of manuscripts submitted to their journals. The group became known as the Vancouver Group. Its requirements for manuscripts, including formats for bibliographic references developed by the U.S. National Library of Medicine (NLM), were first published in 1979. The Vancouver Group expanded and evolved into the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE), which meets annually. The ICMJE created the Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing, and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals to help authors and editors create and distribute accurate, clear, easily accessible reports of biomedical studies.

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