Attending Physicians and Physicians in Training
The very title doctor, from the Latin docere, “to teach,” implies that physicians have a responsibility to share knowledge and information with colleagues and patients. This sharing includes teaching clinical skills and reporting results of scientific research to colleagues, medical students, resident physicians, and other health care providers.
The physician has a responsibility to teach the science, art, and ethics of medicine to medical students, resident physicians, and others and to supervise physicians in training. Attending physicians must treat trainees with the same respect and compassion accorded to other colleagues. In the teaching environment, graduated authority for patient management can be delegated to residents, with adequate supervision. All trainees should inform patients of their training status and role in the medical team. Attending physicians, chiefs of service, or consultants should encourage residents to acknowledge their limitations and ask for help or supervision when concerns arise about patient care or the ability of others to perform their duties.
It is unethical to delegate authority for patient care to anyone, including another physician, who is not appropriately qualified and experienced. On a teaching service, the ultimate responsibility for patient welfare and quality of care remains with the patient’s attending physician of records.
Strikes by Physicians
Physicians should not participate in a strike that adversely affects access to health care. In general, physicians should individually and collectively find alternatives to strikes to address workplace concerns.
The Physician’s Relationship to Other Clinicians
Physicians share a commitment to care for ill persons with an increasingly broad team of clinicians. The team’s ability to care effectively for the patient depends on the ability of individual persons to treat each other with integrity, honesty, and respect in daily professional interactions regardless of race, religion, ethnicity, nationality, sex, sexual orientation, age, or disability. Particular attention is warranted with regard to certain types of relationships and power imbalances that could be abusive or exploitative or lead to harassment, such as those between attending physician and resident, instructor and medical student, or physician and nurse.
Consultation
In almost all circumstances, patients should be encouraged to initially seek care from their principal physician. Physicians should in turn obtain competent consultation whenever they and their patients feel the need for assistance in caring for the patient. The level of consultation needed should be established first: a one–visit opinion, continuing cooperative care, or total transfer of authority to the consultant. Patients have the option to seek an independent consultation from another physician but may be held financially responsible for their decision. The consultant should respect the relationship between the patient and the principal physician, should promptly and effectively communicate recommendations to the principal physicians, and should obtain concurrence of the principal physician for major procedures or additional consultants. The care of the patient and the proper records should be transferred back to the principal physician when the consultation is completed, unless another arrangement is agreed upon. Consultants who need temporary charge of the patient’s care should obtain the principal physician’s cooperation and assent. The physician who does not agree with the consultant’s recommendations is free to call in another consultant. The interests of the patient should remain paramount in this process. A complex clinical situation may call for multiple consultations. To assure a coordinated effort that is in the best interest of the patient, the principal physician should remain in charge of overall care, communicating with the patient and coordinating care on the basis of information derived from the consultations. Unless authority has been formally transferred elsewhere, the responsibility for the patient’s care lies with the principal physician.
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