I believe that medicine has lost much of its "caring" due to the advances of science that made the curing of many diseases possible and reduced the role of caring through palliative medicine (as I've read about in the works of Arthur Hertzler). I agree that caring is an essential component of a primary care physician's practice and should be obvious in every more specialized practice.
Can caring be tought? I don't know. I think the best way to find future physicians who will really care about their patients is a task best done by admissions committees.
Civic-mindedness in a physician means that their life's work commitment should lead them to lend their talents to the betterment of their community beyond their office, whether this is defined as local, state, country, or world.
That a physician should be curious is, to me, a given. I think that a conscientious physician should always be asking themselves about how they could improve the care that they provide. A part of this answer should be something along the lines of increasing their own knowledge, and with that, their effectiveness.
Essentially I agree with the entirety or this article.
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If caring has been lost - then perhaps we have not advanced.
You ask if caring can be taught. I think more than can it be taught, the question is can it be untaught. By this I mean can the process of training to be a physician be so filled with encounters with uncaring role models that students who start with the best of intentions end up not caring when practicing. I think it is possible to drive out the caring when practicing to some extent - but not for many trainees.
My 'take' on how the socialization into medicine process works is that although you will undoubtedly work with some attending physicians who appear uncaring, those who are caring will very much out weight them.
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