In 1890 Sir Henry Tate (1819-98) commissioned a painting from Luke Fildes, the subject of which was left to his own discretion. The artist chose to recall a personal tragedy of his own, when in 1877 his first son, Philip, had died at the age of one in his Kensington home. Fildes’ son and biographer wrote: ‘The character and bearing of their doctor throughout the time of their anxiety, made a deep impression on my parents. Dr. Murray became a symbol of professional devotion which would one day inspire the painting of The Doctor’
The Doctor, Sir Luke Fildes – TATE
Medicine is a bi-hemispheric cerebral discipline, both an art and a science. Notably, many clinicians start out left-dominant—their strength is logic and reasoning. But a physician ought not have one without the other: art without science; or science without art. Rather, a good clinician will use both brains and will use them so that they are always kept in a state of equipoise.
That does not, however it may sound, render the physician inactive. The physician in cerebral equipoise can (and does) decide, making decisions both according to the best evidence base and with an outlook holistic.
To that end, it is to your advantage to learn the medicine well, and learn it again, and again; to gradually transfer knowledge from short-term to long-term memory. The knowledge should, ultimately, be a part of you and you it. It should be who you are. And from whence comes good clinical judgement.
Once a certain amount of knowledge (and wisdom) is embodied, this frees-up short-term memory to deal with the transient and immediate tasks that make demands of day to day attention. It frees the clinician up enough to allow their own personal character and style to reflect in the way they practice.
Read far and read wide. Read fiction and read non-fiction. Read art and read science. Keep yourself whole, and you will make wholesome decisions.
- The 7 Sins of Medicine
- Health Behaviour & Social Context
- The Role of the Doctor as Healer
- Taking the “Pulse”
- Medical Decision Making
- Empathy
- Breaking Bad News
- Models of the Doctor-Patient Relationship
- Ethical Complexities
