Though one of the most highly regarded professions, medicine takes a lot more guts and hard work than many other fields out there. What does it take to become a good doctor? Intelligence and motivation are two of the many traits one needs to possess if they wish to get in and make it out of medical school along with becoming a clinician. The grit it takes to withstand the challenging years of medical school is a massive one, and becoming a well-acclaimed doctor requires an amped up version of the grit.

But what does it really take to make a good doctor? The answer to this question depends on the person you really ask. There are a lot of soft skills that you will need to be proficient in other than IQ and determination to be able to make it through. The same way it took Dr. Yusof Mutahar to really get where he is as a general practitioner.

Having completed his MBBS from the University of Western Australia, in 2014, Mutahar pursued a Specialist Degree in General Practice and obtained his Fellowship Royal Australian College of General Practitioners. This paved his way into general practice. He believes that preventive health is the most important element in lessening sickness and mortality in patients. His interests lie in Antenatal care, Cardiology, Immunizations, Pediatrics, and Asthma and Respiratory diseases. But it took a lot of sleeplessness nights and coffee induced days for Mutahar to get to where he is. He manages such a dense career on top of being a model and a Judo practitioner.  Furthermore he obtained further training in cosmetic surgery and injectables.  He is now one of the most highly followed medical doctors on Instagram and his posts are often shared across a variety of medical pages and forums.

But what made Muhatar so successful in his primary job? We look at some traits we think is desirable in becoming a good doctor.

Good communication

Being a good listener is extremely important if you want to be considered a good doctor. Sometimes, doctors interrupt their patients within a few seconds of them opening their mouth. This leads to the wrong diagnosis that becomes difficult to recover from, or the real illness does not get solved. But it is not just the listening; a good doctor should be able to answer their patients’ questions without using too many difficult medical terminologies or jargon. A lot of the doctors try to rush their patients into rushing their questions so that they can maximize the number of patients. At the end of the day, a good doctor empowers the patients to do better.

Conscientiousness

It is fairly important that the doctor is vigilant about details such as screenings and test. They need to follow up with their patients once they get their tests done. Taking time to evaluate what really is going on will allow the doctors to make the right diagnosis and recommend the right treatments.

Care for the patients

If you are not interpersonal with the patients, no amount of grades or high GPA will really matter. You could have written several award-winning journals along with innovations in the medical field, if you are not getting down on a personal level with the patients then they might not feel cared for and thus not feel comfortable around you.

Overall a good doctor treats the patient holistically, and if necessary a multidisciplinary or multimodal approach.  It is important that the patient feels empowered to make positive changes with their health.