Happy Physicians Day

This year, May 1st has been proclaimed National Physicians’ Day by the CMA. It is a day to recognize and celebrate the work of physicians and physicians in training across Canada. May 1st was chosen to align with provincial celebrations in Ontario and Nova Scotia, and is the birthday of Dr. Emily Stowe, the first female physician to be licensed in Canada.

It seems a fitting time to ponder what exactly it means to be a physician in Canada today. What distinguishes our profession from all the other allied health professionals and alternative practitioners scattered across the current landscape? What exactly do we have to offer that is so important to the health care system? When I come in to Vancouver, the place I stay in is pretty typical – it’s next door to a cannabis dispensary and in a block comprised of a variety of alternative health care practitioners. There is some interesting advertising out there - everything from solutions for chronic back pain, to miraculous weight loss remedies, to cures for cancer. Alternative therapies are very popular, with many promising outcomes conventional medicine is unable to deliver. Even Health Canada delivers a mixed message by approving alternative health products that only need demonstrate they are safe to consume, whereas the process for medical products is much more rigorous and must demonstrate they actually work. It all adds up to considerable confusion for the average patient, trying to figure out a cure for what ails them!

Medicine has a long history and tradition of altruism, the use of scientific evidence, and the social contract. We are proud of our professionalism and how way we carry out our work. The CMA defines the three key elements of professionalism as ethics of care, clinical independence, and self-regulation, yet  increasingly we are challenged on all those fronts by patients, societal trends, Dr. Google, and by governments.

It is ironic that in a social climate where science has achieved so much, there is an ongoing public fascination with practices rooted in mystery. Alternative medical therapies are based on historical and cultural practices rather than science. And yet we take scientific achievement for granted - from our cell phones and laptops, to our CTs, MRIs and PETs. As a kid, I remember lining up in the school gym to get my polio immunization, or the time our GP made a house call when I was diagnosed with the measles - and confining me to the house with the drapes drawn for a week to protect my eyes from the light. When I was in medical school we wrote essays that detailed the differences between croup and epiglottitis. Then, kids with epiglottitis or H flu meningitis required ICU care and often died, but since the introduction of the HIB vaccine decades ago I have not seen a case of either. And yet the anti-vaccine movement has never been more prevalent, and manages to ignore the preventable and unnecessary deaths of children in their rhetoric.

So what is the difference between conventional medicine and the alternatives? We are rooted in science. Hippocrates is known as the father of modern medicine, and the Hippocratic Oath was established to distinguish true practitioners from charlatans. Sir William Osler stated “We work by wit and not by witchcraft, and while these patients have our tenderest care, and we must do what is best for the relief of their sufferings, we should not bring the art of medicine into dispute by quack-like promises to heal”.

I am proud to be a real doctor. Medicine remains a noble profession that balances evidence based scientific knowledge, with the art of compassionate patient care and healing. We should be proud of our achievements and celebrate the work that we do together. Thank you all for your contributions to the profession, and the work that you do every day to improve the lives of all Canadians. Happy National Physicians Day!