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Motivation & Insight into Medicine 4
If I were to give you three qualities (passion, compassion, competence), which of them would you consider most important in a doctor, and why?
This is an interesting question that has been asked in both LKC and YLL interviews in the past few years. Despite seeming open-ended and subjective, there is one favoured order (which may surprise many candidates)
Average Candidate Response
As a doctor competence is essential, without this passion and compassion are of limited benefit. Hence, I would choose a competent doctor as the most important quality.
Excellent Candidate Response
Compassion, passion, and finally competence. I think it boils down to which leads on to which. If one has compassion for your patient, it will lead to you having passion for medicine. One of your students who has been volunteering in the same ward as me explained that he needed to volunteer in order to remind himself of why he was enduring the stresses of pre-clinical training, memorizing endless lists of drugs or various bits of anatomy he may never use after specialization. Since competence in medicine usually depends on how much one is willing to work, then passion for medicine will lead to one enjoying their work and 'pursing this enjoyment', hence developing the necessary competence.
As a doctor competence is essential, without this passion and compassion are of limited benefit. Hence, I would choose a competent doctor as the most important quality.
Excellent Candidate Response
Compassion, passion, and finally competence. I think it boils down to which leads on to which. If one has compassion for your patient, it will lead to you having passion for medicine. One of your students who has been volunteering in the same ward as me explained that he needed to volunteer in order to remind himself of why he was enduring the stresses of pre-clinical training, memorizing endless lists of drugs or various bits of anatomy he may never use after specialization. Since competence in medicine usually depends on how much one is willing to work, then passion for medicine will lead to one enjoying their work and 'pursing this enjoyment', hence developing the necessary competence.