When medicine is reduced to data, protocols, apps, diagnostics or treatments something vital is lost The art of medicine is understanding the humanity, the whole person & that people are all different Respect for humanity can be restored by those who understand the art involved

Absolutely. The humanity, compassion, art of listening (or lack of them) are what patients and families remember for a long time.

Good medicine sits at the junction of art and science. Yet most of what we teach and publish is the science. The medical humanities need bigging up!

‪We have an obsession with treating everything in life like a machine—seeing ones and zeros, binary, on and off. But life is far more complex and beautiful than that.‬ ‪As GPs, we are here to help people achieve THEIR vision of a healthy life journey.‬ ‪No. 1 tip: Stay curious‬

Hear hear!

But curiosity in medicine is also important. A fascination in how people work, and how to obtain better health results.

A single word in a guideline can have a profoundly damaging impact: "Do not routinely offer liothyronine for primary hypothyroidism..." In NICE NG145. Ends up widely being interpreted as "never" rather than "in the first instance" or whatever.

Absolutely!

This is what I used to teach about…….”medicine by numbers”.

It was the compassion and humanity of all the ward staff that had an impact on us as a family during my dad’s ward stay. The 10 days of Pip-Taz felt kind of secondary.

Not only does it diminish the humanity of the carer and cared for it leads to poorer care, certainly in nursing. If I only look at numbers I miss what is actually going on with my patient. The time spent listening to my patient is better for them than my completion of endless defensive documentation