Tag: Patrick Fiddes
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The Art of Medicine is the essence of medical professionalism
Patrick FiddesAustralia The art consists in three things—the disease, the patient, and the physician. The physician is the servant of the art.1 Among the 412 aphorisms in Francis Adam’s Genuine Works Of Hippocrates2 are three that employ the term “Art.” Two have achieved popular acclaim while the third, the “Art of Medicine,” has received fewer…
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Medical teaching from ancient civilizations to the nineteenth century
Patrick FiddesAustralia The perception that medicine’s contemporary teaching practices were introduced by innovative Modern Era1 physicians does not recognize the original contributions of ancient forefathers. Medicine’s earliest teaching records exist in ancient Sanskrit. They provide “detailed information concerning the training of doctors”2 in Akkadian where “the master’s interpretation of texts were preserved as [an] oral…
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An emperor unclothed: The virtuous Osler
Patrick FiddesPaul A. KomesaroffMelbourne, Australia Apart from Hippocrates himself, William Osler was among the most praised physicians of all time. Like his Greek forerunner, Osler amassed a huge following of loyal supporters, for whom he could evidently do no wrong. One went so far as to suggest that Osler was: “the greatest physician of all…