PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Zeller, Timothy Aaron
AU  - Rhoden, Parker A.
AU  - Pipas, Catherine Florio
TI  - What Are Doctors For? A Call for Compassion-Based Metrics as a Measure of Physician Value
AID  - 10.1370/afm.3132
DP  - 2024 Jul 01
TA  - The Annals of Family Medicine
PG  - 352--354
VI  - 22
IP  - 4
4099  - http://www.annfammed.org/content/22/4/352.short
4100  - http://www.annfammed.org/content/22/4/352.full
SO  - Ann Fam Med2024 Jul 01; 22
AB  - Modern measures of physician value are couched in terms of productivity, volume, finance, outcomes, cure rates, and acquisition of an increasingly vast knowledge base. This inherently feeds burnout and imposter syndrome as physicians experience an inability to measure up to unrealistic standards set externally and perceived internally. Ancient and modern wisdom suggests that where populations fail to flourish, at root is a failure to grasp a vision or true purpose. Traditional philosophical conceptions of a physician’s purpose center around compassion, empathy, and humanism, which are a key to thwarting burnout and recovering professional satisfaction. New compassion-based metrics are urgently needed and will positively impact physician well-being and improve population health.