I got my "doctor instruments" today! I now have a purple stethoscope, that fancy light thing to look in ears & eyes, and various blood pressure cuffs! It's official. I'm a doctor.
This raises an interesting question, though. What defines a profession? I hardly think that it's the uniform & instruments that make one a doctor, but what is it? My Essentials of Clinical Medicine course taught me that a profession is characterized by an "imperative to serve others," which I take to mean an obligation to serve others.
Is this true for all professions? For medicine, I believe that it's a nice generalization, but I'm hesitant to characterize all walks of life in this way. Yet as I'm sitting here thinking about it, I can't come up with a job that doesn't serve others in some way!
What are your thoughts? In your profession, or the one you hope for in the future, what defines the role you play? I'm really interested in following up with a post on professionalism sometime soon & your comments will help me round out the discussion. So thanks in advance!
With that, I'll leave you for a couple of weeks. I'm going home for the holidays & I make a point to "disappear" whilst I'm there! Not being joined at the hip to my cell phone and laptop allows me to spend quality time with my friends & family and just relax. I highly recommend it!
Look for my next post in the new year! Happy Holidays!
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