CMAJ • June 6, 2006; 174 (12). doi:10.1503/cmaj.1060103.
© 2006 CMA Media Inc. or its licensors
All editorial matter in CMAJ represents the opinions of the authors and not necessarily those of the Canadian Medical Association.
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Letters

Why the surprise?

David B. Hogan

University of Calgary, Calgary, Alta.

Mark Baerlocher1 expresses surprise that, according to results in the 2004 National Physician Survey, geriatricians constituted the second most satisfied group of doctors.

Geriatricians' high level of satisfaction with their current professional life is not surprising and has in fact been reported before. For example, a US study found that physicians in geriatric medicine were more than twice as likely as family physicians to be very satisfied with their careers.2 In Britain, geriatrics is the largest medical specialty, and its practitioners are reportedly the happiest.3

What should be surprising is that Baerlocher (and presumably many others) are gobsmacked by this finding. I suspect that this attitude is a manifestation of ageism.4 A unique feature of this form of prejudice is that the members of the "in" group (younger folk) will, if they survive, eventually join the "out" group (older people). With the aging of Canadian society, nearly all physicians should be embracing the principles of good geriatric care, and a good (and hopefully growing) proportion of them will have to make the care of older patients the focus of their professional practice. Negative stereotyping of older individuals creates barriers to the achievement of both goals.

REFERENCES

  1. Baerlocher MO. Happy doctors? Satisfaction with professional life. CMAJ 2006;174(8):1079.[Free Full Text]
  2. Leigh JP, Kravitz RL, Schembri M, et al. Physician career satisfaction across specialties. Arch Intern Med 2002;162:1577-84.[Abstract/Free Full Text]
  3. Gill L, Datta-Chaudhuri M. Harrogate — BGS 2005 autumn scientific meeting [Internet]. BGS Newsl Online 2005 Nov. Available: www.bgsnet.org.uk/Nov05NL/1_harrogate.htm (accessed 2006 May 4).
  4. Nelson TD, editor. Ageism: stereotyping and prejudice against older persons. Cambridge (MA): MIT Press; 2004.



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