The Most Important Qualities for the Good Doctor

Recently, on ward internal medicine inpatient rounds, one of us asked the residents and students what they considered to be the most important quality in a good doctor. Not surprisingly, most of my team members felt that a large and complete fund of knowledge in internal medicine was the most important quality. Why, not surprisingly? The answer is simple. We constantly probe and test our students and residents in order to assess their knowledge of internal medicine and its daily application. The residents were told that this was a reasonable answer, but not the most essential quality in a good physician.