München – A Medscape survey shows what doctors expect from friendships, what role colleagues and patients play, and how generous they are with their expertise
Physicians prefer to cultivate friendships in their professional environment. These include colleagues in particular – but every third doctor also allows some patients access to their private lives. This may be due to the fact that the stressful job leaves little room for getting to know one another in a wider environment. Apparently, discussions about the pandemic have tended to put a strain on friendships. The friendly free advice does not cause much resistance: Doctors are happy to answer their friends’ questions about health – even after work.
Actually, you didn’t expect it despite all the professional stress: Doctors like to cultivate numerous friendships. Almost two thirds have more than six friends, over a quarter even eleven or more. A comparison makes it clear that these figures speak for a particular tendency to be close to friends: In similar, but not job-specific surveys, three quarters of the people state that they have just three friends.
More than 1,100 doctors gave their opinions in an online survey from September to December 2022 for the current Medscape report “Doctors and their friendships”.
Doctors are therefore particularly happy to share their medical and professional interests in their private lives. Because more than three quarters have friends among their colleagues. Many of these friendships are already initiated during the studies. Significantly less in school. And very few friendships have survived childhood friendships.
This gives the impression that doctors deliberately combine work with private life. That’s not the case. Because half of them don’t care at all about finding friends among colleagues. Only 9% state that they are consciously looking for friends among their colleagues. All in all, the benefit aspect of a friendship hardly plays a role: three quarters of the doctors see no professional advantage in friendships with colleagues.
Doctors suffer greatly from lack of time when it comes to their personal lives. Long working hours are the main obstacle to maintaining friendships, according to 74% of the survey participants. Surprisingly, to a much lesser extent (43%), they cite family commitments as a friendship killer.
The Covid pandemic has obviously managed to get the pulse racing in medical circles as well. 65% of physicians surveyed say disagreements over pandemic management have become a strain on friendships. But one thing the pandemic ultimately failed to do: permanently destroy friendships among doctors. 86% had at least as many friends after the pandemic as before.
All in all: Doctors also love harmony. Besides her passion for her job, friendships are also an important part of her life for her, which she would like to give more time to. They see no problem in patients also becoming friends. And they like to be asked: their friends generously support them with one or the other medical advice.
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