Art of Medicine

[CharlatanMD]

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People often talk about mastering both the science and art of medicine. What exactly is the art of medicine? Any examples?

 

[colbgw02]

Imagine that you had a piece of paper that said that a patient's vital signs, lab values, and radiology findings were all normal. then you walk into the room and can just tell that the patient is sick as snot. it's a gestalt.

that's the art of medicine.

 

[Zippership]

People often talk about mastering both the science and art of medicine. What exactly is the art of medicine? Any examples?

Don't you know? They have painting classes in med school!

 

[nick_carraway]

Hmm... sometimes the labs don't show you what your gut might warn you about as you become a more experienced physician.

Or sometimes a treatment will work but it has a side effect that will limit the mobility of a young kid's arm, for instance. As his doctor, you might use a different treatment whereas a different doctor might just go ahead with the treatment of first resort.

 

[Husky85]

Science = reproducible 100% of the time

Art = there is a degree of uncertainty in the outcome

Medicine is an art based in science. You can't just memorize a list of protocols and then go out and do some doctorin'. Some patients may not be able to tolerate the standard treatment. Some patients may present with non-standard symptoms. The human element (patients) of medicine adds a huge degree of variability, and so the art of medicine is being able to interpret all these factors and attempt to address them.

 

[twolfbear]

Art of Medicine= signing your name with stitches during surgery

 

[blargh]

spend some time shadowing and you'll see

 

[PreMed4Dummies]

read "How Doctors Think" by Jerome Groopman. the book discusses just what the title implies, an aspect of the "art" of medicine.

 

[neurofreak]

Science = reproducible 100% of the time

Art = there is a degree of uncertainty in the outcome

Medicine is an art based in science. You can't just memorize a list of protocols and then go out and do some doctorin'. Some patients may not be able to tolerate the standard treatment. Some patients may present with non-standard symptoms. The human element (patients) of medicine adds a huge degree of variability, and so the art of medicine is being able to interpret all these factors and attempt to address them.

well said 👍