How do you get this sort of stuff across?

 It’s understandable that it should be demanding: most of us, if we were to have our brains cut open, would prefer it be done by someone who prioritises their work over their personal life. As a trainee I realised that I had too many other interests to be a good neurosurgeon, and quit for emergency medicine – a tranquil backwater by comparison.

 

From a review, of ‘Do no harm’ by Henry Marsh, in the Guardian. I think it is increasingly hard to explain to many, that for many walks of medical life, part time working may be suboptimal. The next issue, is how academics are to figure in all of this?  It was David Hubel, the Nobel Laureate, who qualified in medicine but did not practice, who pointed out that the best doctors see more patients: there is he believed (as I do) a relation between clinical load, and competence. The caveats relate to, breadth of practice, and how you ensure that the hierarchy of practice does not waste scarce high-level expertise on cases that do not require it. I think we are getting these things wrong.