Psychology of medical staff among doctors and nurses

1. Name Bibhash Kumar
topic psychology of medical staffs

2. Psychology of medical staff
The success of the medical influence does not depend only upon the psychological peculiarities of the
patient, but first of all is determined by the moral make-up of the doctor whose professional activity
radically differs from that of any other specialist. The life makes great demands of the doctor as a specialist.
First of all, they include a high professionalism, an aspiration for a constant enrichment of his own
knowledge. The doctor must be a person of high moral standards whose authority is established by
profound knowledge in his field, a personal charm, modesty, optimism, honesty, truthfulness, justice,
selflessness and humanism.

3. The literature describes some possible
psychological types of doctors:
1. «Compassionate» – tender-hearted, merciful, easily responsive to the patient's sufferings.
2. «Pragmatic» – taking into consideration only the objective side of the disease in the work with his
patients, does not pay any attention to the patients' sufferings.
3. «Moralist» – inclined to moral admonitions and indignant if the patient doubts or does not follow his
doctor's recommendations

4. 4.«Diligent» – honest in his work, serious, assiduous, industrious and not inclined to joke with the patients.
5.«Activist» («public worker») – prefers solving of various organizational problems and serving of social duties in the
medical institution to work with his patients.
6.«Dogmatic» – strictly follows the mastered diagnostic and therapeutic directions and schemes, hardly apprehends any
new things.
7.«Technocrat» – overestimates the significance of laboratory and apparatus data, does not attach any importance to the
patients' sufferings and other subjective aspects of the disease.

5. 9.«Sybarite» – likes cosiness and comfort, the patients irritate him with their complaints, he does not consider much their
opinion and is inclined to the Bohemian mode of life.
10.«Artist» – inclined to demonstration of his knowledge and professional skills to the patients and their relatives,
depending upon the conditions he plays parts of various doctors, namely: «hesitating», «attentive», «luminary», etc..
11.«Bored idler» – a high self-estimation with a rather modest stock of knowledge, stereotyped diagnosis and
administration of treatment, a scornful attitude towards his inquisitive colleagues.
8.«Psychotherapist» – tries to grasp the patient's sufferings, help him with a piece of advice or
making him change his mind.

6. 12.«Misanthrope» – a doctor under compulsion: a lack of any calling for the doctor's activity is displayed
through the absence of such streaks as mercifulness, kindness, as well as through rudeness, a disgusted
attitude towards the patients and malicious jokes.

7. Medical practice knows cases when the doctor experiences diagnostic difficulties that sometimes result in medical
mistakes. There are objective and subjective causes of these mistakes.
A medical mistake means a delusion of the doctor with absence of any negligence, carelessness or a thoughtless attitude
to his duties. Medical mistakes are often caused by peculiarities in the doctor's personality and character, as well as by how
he feels rather than by his insufficient professional training and qualification. This subjective factor accounts for 60 – 70 %
of the total number of mistakes.

8. Depending upon their character and attitude to
the work, the following individual types of nurses
are separated.
1.The practical type, characterized by accuracy and strictness, sometimes forgetting the humane side of the patient. In a
paradoxical form it may be sometimes manifested by the fact that she awakens a sleeping patient in order to give him
some soporific.
2.The artistic type, characterized by affected behaviour; without any sense of proportion, such a nurse tries to impress the
patient and be pompous.
3.The nervous type; such a nurse is often tired, irritated and the patients do not feel calmness near her. She subconsciously
tries to evade some duties; for example, out of apprehension to be infected.

9. 4.The male type of the nurse, with a strong constitution: she is resolute, energetic, self-confident and consistent. The
patients characterize her behaviour as «military». In a favourable case, she becomes a good organizer and successfully
trains young nurses. In an unfavourable case, such nurses may be primitive, aggressive and despotic.
5.The maternal type of the nurse, a «sweet nurse», often with a pyknic constitution.
6.Nurses-specialists who work, e.g., on an electrocardiograph or electroencephalograph; sometimes they have a feeling of
superiority over the nurses working at departments; if they do not conceal this attitude, it may result in tense relations
between them and other personnel.

10. Medical deontology
Medical deontology and ethics are the whole complex of principles of regulation and standards of
behaviour for the doctor and other medical workers conditioned by the specific character of their activity
(care for other people's health, treatment, etc.) and position in the society.

11. Iatrogenies
Iatropathogeny, contracted to iatrogeny (iatros = doctor, gennao = to do, to produce), is such a method of
examination, treatment or carrying out prophylactic measures that results in causing harm to the patient's
health by the doctor. In the broader sense of the word, it means the harm to the patient done by a medical
worker. In this connection, the term «sorrorigeny» is used; it means the harm caused by a nurse (sorror =
nurse), like other fields use the term «didactogeny», or «pedagogeny», i.e. causing of harm to a pupil by his
teacher in the process of training.

12. Somatic iatrogeny
Somatic iatrogeny is distinguished, where the harm maybe done by using drugs (e.g. allergic responses after
administration of antibiotics), mechanical manipulations (surgical operations),, irradiation (X-ray
examination and radiotherapy), etc.

13. Psychic iatrogeny
Psychic iatrogeny includes a harmful psychic effect produced by the doctor on his patient through words
and all means of contacts among people which have their effect on the whole organism of the patient rather
than on his mentality only

14. The following types of iatrogeny are
distinguished
1.Etiological iatrogeny
2.Organolocalistic iatrogeny
3.Diagnostic iatrogeny

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