Medical students main motivation is to help people – yet

Summary

The article reminds us of the collectivity or service orientation being the fundamental element of the professional medical role. Traditional wordings representing medicine as a helping and altruistic profession have been largely discredited. Medical ethos has continually transformed from the explicitly declared ideals to rather implicit moral contents. This, however, can lead to a further decrease of morally relevant imperatives in the framework of market society. The article presents empirical results of a survey among 1^st year medical students. In their view, the main motivation why they opted for medicine was to help other people. Motivations oriented to self-interest and personal needs have also been widely present and we consider them as a visible counterbalance of altruistic motifs. The discussion is if medical altruism is sustainable in market societies and highly efficient health care systems.

Keywords:
medical profession – ethics – altruism – motivation