They serve to write as doctors (7)

I believe the answer is:

waiters

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'they serve' is the definition.
Although both the answer and 'serve' are nouns, they are not in the same form of the noun.

'write as doctors' is the wordplay.
'doctors' indicates anagramming the letters (I've seen 'doctor' mean this).
'write'+'as'='writeas'
'writeas' with letters rearranged gives 'WAITERS'.

'to' acts as a link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for waiters that I've seen before include "Garcons" , "Table servers" , "Wariest kind of attendants" , "Servers at tables" .)

I've seen this clue in the Sydney Morning Herald.

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