Breathtaking speed of molecular scientific advance threatens the practice of medicine as art. And while all art and no science make for mere quackery, all science and no art merely make for bad medicine. The practice of Medicine is both art and science. Medicine is a social science. The word “doctor” means “teacher.” Whether relating to patients, parents, pupils, or even colleagues, for that matter, doctors are first and foremost guides. Teaching, too, is an art.
To teach is to know. At the turn of the nineteenth century, French moralist and essayist, Joseph Joubert, claimed that “to teach is to learn twice”. Yet there will always remain gaps in knowledge and the need for life-long learning. We remain both disciples and teachers at the same time. Knowledge of science, on its own, is not the whole practice of Medicine. Scientific knowledge is no more the practice of medicine than high-school calculus is successful space rocketry. And in these heady days there is a tendency, moreover, to information overload. Wisdom requires we pick and choose from whom we hear. That is an art in itself.
The Good Doctor aims to demonstrate basic front-line medical care of the all-too-common individual who all-too-commonly tumbles into cracks in the system, remains generally poorly cared for, a conundrum, or generally overlooked and under-represented by traditional teaching. In many ways, this Clinic reflects a back-to-basics approach to Medicine—the learning from first principles—yet still governed by the imperative of timely action through focused clinical assessment.
In order to fulfill this obligation, The Good Doctor handles the occasional volatile, caustic substance: not necessarily restricted material, yet equally not designed for general public regard. Regardless, matters here cannot (necessarily do not) replace standard medical opinion and care in your region. While all care is taken toward accuracy of matters herewith, by its very nature error can occur; often in simple transcription alone, for instance. There is no substitute for individual due diligence and discretion. Your due diligence and discretion.
Welcome. The doctor is in. Avail yourself of comestibles in the scullery but note local custom preference for ethanolic hand rub prior to entering the parlour.
And while The Good Doctor remains a strong promoter of expressed patient wish and shared decision making informed by the evidence, he equally remains alert to his professional duty to provide considered opinion and to intervene where necessary. This Clinic prioritizes on such need-to-know basis.
You need not know everything; you need know everything that you need to know.
To those who have gone before and to those also who come after—in they whom we place our trust. For much of what one will find here is a compilation of the work of others, modified, arranged and redacted to serve the present need: with the expressed aim here to provide that compilation– that certain mix–of knowledge and nous together, that is not available elsewhere. The aim is to provide some foundation from which all can aspire to The Good Doctor.
Praise to the Heavenly Father.
Unless otherwise indicated, images found at The Good Doctor reside in the Public Domain.