I have enjoyed reading the comments on my recent post discussing Pauline Chen's NY Times column. I fear that some readers may have missed the point.
Please re-read the column. The psychometricians focus on personality as a factor in medical school success, not physician success.
Neuroticism predicts negatively on medical school success, while conscientiousness predicts very positively on success. Think carefully, we all want conscientious physicians. We need physicians to dot I's and cross t's.
Several commenters focused on extraversion. Some understood that extraversion helps you learn during the clinical years, as the style of teaching and evaluation fits extraverts better than intraverts.
One commenter did not care about personality in physicians, but rather competence. As I read the study, and consider my experience with many students, I can assure you that conscientiousness trumps MCATs.
I will restate that we need physicians who have reasonable intelligence, but I also believe that among potential candidates, choosing an MCAT of 32 over an MCAT of 26 might not make sense if the personality of the 26 fits medical school success better.
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Always an interesting topic. We interviewed Dr. Walter Hartwig (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Hartwig) who said that in the admissions process, they looked for students who could handle the sciences curriculum– but who would be able to spend time developing themselves as physicians and human beings throughout the medical school process (and beyond). I liked that idea– the sciences dictate a basic level of competency, but you need to look for much more beyond that.
- Lakshman Swamy, MS2. Co-host, Radio Rounds medical talk show
I think that intelligence may matter more for for success in medical school than in medical practice. If I had to list the attributes that great physicians have, intelligence would be on the list, but would follow after many other personal qualities.
@Student Doctor Swamy: I want my own physicians to be exceptionally smart, conscientious, AND able to relate to me on a personal level. Maybe if we focused on the sciences earlier in American education we'd have a bigger pool of folks who can both handle the science component of medical education and engage in meaningful personal development during & beyond medical school. As it is, many leave medical school fairly developmentally stunted. Does this surprise anyone familiar with medical education?
Med school "success" is perhaps easier to measure than in practicing physicians. Some personality/temperament characteristics may have disparate impact among specialties (e.g. introversion in pathology vs. plastic surgery vs. pediatrics). Conscientiousness should be a positive in any field.
I'm not sure that neuroticism would be beneficial in any field except as a risk management advisor.
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