TECHNOLOGY VERSUS RESPONSIBILITY - IMMIGRANT PHYSICIANS FROM THE FORMER SOVIET-UNION REFLECT ON ISRAELI HEALTH-CARE

About 13,000 physicians from the former Soviet Union have found themse lves in the saturated medical market in Israel as a result of the late st wave of immigration. This paper examines the gap in professional at titudes and practices between Israeli and Soviet MDs and the cognitive mechanisms employed by immigrant physicians in the process of adjustm ent to the new medical culture. The study draws on 25 semistructured i nterviews with recent (about three years in Israel) immigrant doctors who were at various stages of obtaining a local medical license. Refle cting on the need to redefine themselves as professionals and to confr ont negative stereotypes regarding ex-Soviet doctors, many respondents stressed the strong sides of Soviet medical training and work style. In their collective self-portrait, immigrant doctors emphasized devoti on to patients, clinical intuition, manual skills, and empathy, while flaws were regarded as superficial and improvable by technical trainin g. Conversely, the alleged flaws of Israeli doctors were perceived by these informants as pertaining to the core of medicine: ''Excessive de pendence on technology,'' ''lack of responsibility toward patients, '' and ''weak preventive orientation'' of Israeli colleagues were repeat edly criticized. The paper sheds light on the significant conceptual d ifferences between the Soviet and Western medical traditions and provi des a vivid example of the sociocultural construction of medicine. Our findings are also indicative of the interpretative processes and copi ng strategies that immigrants in general may develop in saturated prof essional markets.