의사라는 직업과 ‘더티 워크’ 입력 : 2024.04.29 경향신문 내재적 지향 vs 도구적 지향

[오오]

[직설]의사라는 직업과 ‘더티 워크’ - 경향신문 (khan.co.kr)

[직설]의사라는 직업과 ‘더티 워크’

Being a doctor and 'dirty work'
When the nation was in a state of culture shock over the press conference of Heejin Min, the CEO of ADORE, something happened that shocked me just as much. Noh Hwankyu, former president of the Korean Medical Association, wrote on Facebook, “It's okay for someone like that to make money, but doctors are allergic to making money,” referring to Min.

A few days before that, there was shocking news that all the professors in charge of Seoul National University Hospital had resigned, leading to the closure of the only pediatric dialysis unit in Korea. I watched an interview with one of them, and no matter how much I tried to read it with an open mind, I couldn't understand why they wanted to leave the medical field. It is true that the government's decision to increase the number of medical schools by 2,000 was unilateral and that there was a lack of reconciliation efforts afterward, but they never said that they would not take any other improvement measures. But why are doctors willing to disrupt the medical field without offering a compromise?

“I used to sympathize with the argument that ‘doctors are angry that they've been labeled as a group that only cares about money when what really matters to them is ’respect‘ and ’admiration. However, I was increasingly inclined to think, “Maybe money isn't important.” Then I read Noh's article as a confession that money is actually the problem.

He put it this way. He described doctors as people who “spend their golden years studying, and they have to spend their whole life studying when they thought they only had to spend their golden years.” The word “respect” is also used several times in the article, but in this context, it seems to me to mean “respect” in the sense of “you should be respected because you were the best student in high school.” I can't help but think that doctors are people who enjoy studying and find their work rewarding.

In addition, Ahn Cheolsoo, a former doctor, said, “At this rate, 2,000 people will open dermatology clinics every year in 10 years.” Why do doctors gravitate toward the most lucrative fields? You might say it's natural, but it's not. Many people want to do work that they enjoy and find meaningful, even if it pays less. These are the academically “intrinsically oriented” people. The opposite is the “instrumentally oriented,” who prioritize income and social status. Both exist in every society and generation, but there are certain patterns. The more developed the country, the more educated the person, and the more skilled the job, the stronger the intrinsic orientation. It is natural to assume that doctors are generally intrinsically oriented, and there is a long-standing perception that they are people who have a sense of calling, people who can handle the pressure and responsibility of dealing with lives, people who will say, “I'm a doctor!” without hesitation when faced with an emergency anywhere. That's where “respect” and “admiration” come from.

American sociologist Earl Press called “dirty work” work that is necessary to society but unethical, and therefore increasingly excluded and deval‎ued by society. For now, it's the antithesis of a doctor, but we don't know how long that will last. If doctors are the ones who perceive life as a “tool,” the ones who feel respected only by making the most money, there's no reason why they can't become the “dirty work” someday. And who cares if they still make a lot of money?

Translated with DeepL.com (free version)