What stays constant at the heart of medicine -- Cook 333 (7582): 1281 -- BMJ
What stays constant at the heart of medicine -- Cook 333 (7582): 1281 -- BMJ: "There is no one division of medicine by which we know and another by which we act
The expression 'the science and art of medicine' is much misunderstood. Too often the parts of medicine termed as its 'art' seem to amount to no more than good communication skills or to what was once called a good bedside manner. No doubt patients feel better, and perhaps even do better, when they think their doctor cares about them. But stories also abound of well dressed doctors with smooth manners but little knowledge who have gained—and sometimes abused—the trust of their patients.
While the historical record is replete with such examples, and almost every practitioner will be able to call others to mind, it is the fictional creations of writers such as Molière, Shaw, and Cronin that have most amused and scandalised us. To provide a counterweight to such social frauds, all kinds of programmes and regulations have been introduced to make competence and knowledge more important to professional advancement than manners, social graces, and public regard.
But to identify the art of medicine with 'artfulness' is to fall into a set of modern confusions. It is now common to think of art as something done by artists and the arts as a different field of activity than science, sometimes even "
The expression 'the science and art of medicine' is much misunderstood. Too often the parts of medicine termed as its 'art' seem to amount to no more than good communication skills or to what was once called a good bedside manner. No doubt patients feel better, and perhaps even do better, when they think their doctor cares about them. But stories also abound of well dressed doctors with smooth manners but little knowledge who have gained—and sometimes abused—the trust of their patients.
While the historical record is replete with such examples, and almost every practitioner will be able to call others to mind, it is the fictional creations of writers such as Molière, Shaw, and Cronin that have most amused and scandalised us. To provide a counterweight to such social frauds, all kinds of programmes and regulations have been introduced to make competence and knowledge more important to professional advancement than manners, social graces, and public regard.
But to identify the art of medicine with 'artfulness' is to fall into a set of modern confusions. It is now common to think of art as something done by artists and the arts as a different field of activity than science, sometimes even "
posted by Aloyzio Achutti | 5:47 AM
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