Sisyphus or Pegasus? The Physician Interviewer in the Era of Corporatization of Care

Kaplan and colleagues cogently assume that participatory decision-making style is a marker for higher-quality interpersonal care and view the interview as a core clinical skill and a major determinant of quality of care, including such important outcomes as physician and patient satisfaction, biological outcome, quality of life, cost-effectiveness, and cost-efficiency.

Abstract

Editorials1 March 1996Sisyphus or Pegasus? The Physician Interviewer in the Era of Corporatization of CareMack Lipkin Jr., MDMack Lipkin Jr., MDNew York University Medical Center, New York, NY 10016Search for more papers by this authorAuthor, Article, and Disclosure Informationhttps://doi.org/10.7326/0003-4819-124-5-199603010-00010 SectionsAboutFull TextPDF ToolsAdd to favoritesDownload CitationsTrack CitationsPermissions ShareFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail With the increasing corporatization of medicine, are physicians becoming Sisyphean drudges toiling futilely, forced to roll the stone uphill faster and faster, losing patients, pride in quality care, autonomy, and their own health? This increasing prevalent self-image—correlated with high rates of burnout and fundamental dissatisfaction with the profession—contrasts with the happier, Pegasus-like myth of the physician soaring on the wings of science and professionalism, experiencing the joys of effectiveness, altruism, moral probity, and wealth that attracted so many of us to medicine. Implicit in much Sisyphean negativism is victimization—by the nature of things, in Camus' existentialist version, and by the ...References1. Kaplan SH, Greenfield S, Gandek B, Rogers WH, Ware JE Jr. Characteristics of physicians with participatory decision-making styles. Ann Intern Med. 1996; 124:497-504. Google Scholar2. Lipkin M. The medical interview and related skills. In: Branch WT Jr, ed. Office Practice of Medicine. 3d ed. Philadelphia: WB Saunders; 1994:1287-306. Google Scholar3. Dye NE, DiMatteo MR. Enhancing cooperation with the medical regime. In: Lipkin M Jr, Putnam SM, Lazare A, eds. 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Arch Intern Med. 1995; 155:1877-84. Google Scholar14. Maguire P, Fairbairn S, Fletcher C. Consultation skills of young doctors: I-Benefits of feedback training in interviewing as students persist. Br Med J (Clin Res Ed). 1986; 292:1573-6. Google Scholar15. Lipkin M, Kaplan C, Clark W, Novack DH. Teaching medical interviewing: the Lipkin model. In: Lipkin M Jr, Putnam SM, Lazare A, eds. The Medical Interview: Clinical Care, Education, and Research. New York: Springer-Verlag; 1995:422-35. Google Scholar Author, Article, and Disclosure InformationAffiliations: New York University Medical Center, New York, NY 10016Corresponding Author: Mack Lipkin Jr., MD, New York University Medical Center, 550 First Avenue, New York, NY 10016. PreviousarticleNextarticle Advertisement FiguresReferencesRelatedDetailsSee AlsoCharacteristics of Physicians with Participatory Decision-Making Styles Sherrie H. Kaplan , Sheldon Greenfield , Barbara Gandek , William H. Rogers , and John E. 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