Advice to the Young Physician

Advice to the Young Physician introduces the origins of important teachings that form the basis of medicine as it has been taught by some of history's greatest educators in medicine.  Advice to the Young Physician reveals how to make the transition from technician to healer.

This book reinforces the humanistic side of patient care, which is often overshadowed by the focus on highly technological elements.  Medical students, residents, fellows, physicians, and allied health practitioners often forget the intricacies of the genomic makeup of adenoviruses, yet they remember the tips, anecdotes and aphorisms related by mentors, educators, and experienced physicians.  The art of medicine comes from insights gained from unique and dynamic experiences between the physician, an enthusiastic medical student and the human patient, and is rarely found in books or taught in a universal and systematic way.

Advice to the Young Physician provides numerous examples of best practices in order to internalize and practice the art of medicine, including tenets taught by Hippocrates, Maimonides, Osler, Peabody, Schweitzer and others.

Advice to the Young Physician targets aspiring and new physicians with the intent to make them better physicians.  It hits the mark.  An effective mix of the writings of some of medicine's giants, as well as clinical experiences of the author, the book offers an historical framework and personal context to understand the attributes and attitudes of the good physician.  It is a quick read that rewards the reader with a sampling of 4000 years of medical wisdom sprinkled with practical advice for the modern day doctor.

--Richard G. Roberts, MD, JD, Professor of Family Medicine, University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, President World Organization of Family Doctors, Past President American Academy of Family Physicians

This is a small book and easy to read. Itcomprises several inspiring sketches of ancient and modern physicians whose reputations were based as much on their dedication to the humanism of medicine as it was to the science of medicine. Those who teach medical students and residents will find it a good source of medical history that, besides being important in itself, will add a new dimension and a little lightness to morning rounds.

The author makes it clear that in our era of high technology it is easy to underestimate the importance of uniting humanism with science in caring for the sick. He also provides some practical information on such topics as how to present a case to attending physicians and how to communicate well with patients. The ancient physicians that history remembers were not only astute observers of signs and symptoms but also were deeply concerned about the psychological health of their patients and how disturbances in their emotional health often manifested

in physical symptoms.

Colgan starts with Hippocrates and Maimonides whose names many young physicians are familiar with. The former for the aphorism “first do no harm” and the latter for being one of the first to call medicine a “vocation” and a “calling.”

The following “greats” are included in the book:

Dr Albert Schweitzer whose “reverence for life” led him to his missionary medical work in Africa. He wrote Out of My Life and Thought and received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1952.

Sir William Osler (1849–1919), known to some as the father of internal medicine, was a respected physician and teacher. He was the author of the Principles and Practice of Medicine, used for decades as the bible of medicine. But his fame rested equally on his dedication as a mentor to young physicians. He often gave graduation addresses to medical students reminding them to maintain a life-long interest in continuous learning and to treat the whole patient not just thedisease.

Francis Weld Peabody (1881–1927) a teacher at Harvard who had written a book The Care of the Patient in which he discussed how older practitioners often complained that younger doctors’ mindsets were so often over-concerned with testing that they sometimes forgot about how to take care of the whole patient.

Dr. Theodore E. Woodward (1914–2005) who was famous for his dedication to patients. Once during a snowstorm he hitched a ride on a snowplow to see his patients at the hospital. He is responsible for the epigram “when you hear hoof beats think of horses not zebras.”

Dr Edmund Pellegrino, respected for his studies in bioethics. His interest in protecting the sanctity of the doctor-patient relationship has particular importance in our current era when it seems that the art of medicine seems to be overshadowed by the business of medicine. He discusses this in his essay “The Commodification of Medical and Health Care.”

Dr. Paul Farmer also is deeply concerned with the ethical ramifications of the commercialization that is overtaking the health system. He is devoted to improving public health on a worldwide scale.

The author finishes up with some practical tips such as how to take a good history and how to avoid malpractice suits. He mentions the importance of finding a reasonable balance between our personal and professional lives. To offset the pressures that are sure to arise in caring for patients he reminds us as, Osler said, to look for the “poetry in life,” meaning to really try and understand the human side of the patients we treat.

Throughout the book Colgan refers to doctors as “healers.” He suggests that healers are those who rise above the merely technical aspects of their craft and connect with patients in a special way—a way that respects their uniqueness and their human nature. It’s hard to describe in scientific terms what a healer is.

As the author points out, mostdoctors know them when they see them.

Edward J. Volpintesta, MD

Bethe

• Art of Medicine
• Balanced Physician
• Clinical Practice
• Humanistic Patient Care
• Medical Education
• Medical Humanism
• Medical Sociology
• Modern Masters
• Private Practice
• Public Health
• practice of medicine

From the reviews:

The title is literal and so is the approach, so the general reader might well pass up this 145-page admonition—except that Colgan, perhaps inadvertently, illuminates a crucial, often neglected element of the current debate on national medical care: physicians’ obligation to serve patients’ urgent needs,  irrespective of compensation. The University of Maryland Medical School associate professor recounts a history of this beneficence, predating the Hippocratic Oath and extending to heroes of the modern medical era. Several, including Sir William Osler, are associated with Johns Hopkins. Parsed out, the message is emphatic: The patient comes first. - Lew Diuguid, John Hopkins Magazine, February 28, 2011

Advice to the Young Physician targets aspiring and new physicians with the intent to make them better physicians. It hits the mark. An effective mix of the writings of some of medicine's giants, as well as clinical experiences of the author, the book offers an historical framework and personal context to understand the attributes and attitudes of the good physician. It is a quick read that rewards the reader with a sampling of 4000 years of medical wisdom sprinkled with practical advice for the modern day doctor. —Richard G. Roberts, MD, JD, Professor of Family Medicine, University of Wisconsin School of Medicine & Public Health, President, World Organization of Family Doctors, Past President, American Academy of Family Physicians

Dr Colgan's emphasis on humanistic medicine molded my outlook and practice as a student.  He is a teaching physician after the form of the great leaders he writes about here.  He insists we remember our royal heritage, put first our duty to our patients, and honor the calling society has privileged us with. - David A Edwards, MD, PhD, Anesthesiology Resident, University of Florida

In Advice to Young Physicians: On the Art of Medicine, Dr. Richard Colgan reflectson the "art" of medicine and what it means in today’s culture and argues effectively for a more active and central role of it in health care training.  By featuring some influential healers from ancient times to present day and drawing from personal experience, Dr. Colgan shows how there has always been recognition of the "human" side of medicine. 

. . .This text does more than offer practical tips (which are very relevant to any young healer).  It also helps to reignite a passion that exists for many who start out in training and find themselves worn down and jaded by the formal didactics and stresses that are faced, such as long hours away from family and friends, the heaviness of dealing with pain and suffering, and the culture of medicine, which at times can be cold and seemingly lacking in humanity.  The reader comes to see the power of the art of medicine, that which is "outside of the scientific realm," when caring for the patient. - Stephanie Fleegle, M.D., Second Year Family Medicine Resident, Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

“Award-winning professor … offers history, practical advice and inspiration to help young doctors become healers rather than mere technicians in straight ahead prose with a liberal sprinkling of anecdotes. The first half of the book profiles inspiring physicians … . more practical matters in the second half advising on communicating well and with civility establishing a good practice, ‘searching for the true poetry of life’ in the midst of one’s work, and facing the sometimes quixotic task of caring for and healing fellow human beings.” (CUA Magazine, Vol. 22 (2), 2010)

“This work reflects the author’s personal definition of the art of medicine. … Each chapter opens with an abstract and ends with a list of references and list of further reading and resources. … physicians of all ages and at various points in their careers would benefit from readingthis book. It would make a great graduation gift to new physicians. It is readable and compact enough to fit in the pocket of a standard white lab jacket. I recommend this book … .” (Marie-Alberte Boursiquot, The Linacre Quarterly, Vol. 77 (4), November, 2010)

“Richard Colgan, MD, begins to explore this frontier in Advice to the Young Physician: on the Art of Medicine. … On reading Advice to the Young Physician, one leaves wanting a little bit more, happy to be a caring physician, and overwhelmed by the extensive future reading list. … Dr. Colgan brings this forward to share with others both experienced and prospective. It serves as an invitation to be something different, to join the society of healers.” (Kent Bream, Family Medicine, Vol. 43 (2), February, 2011)

• School of Medicine, University of Maryland, Baltimore, U.S.A.

  Richard Colgan

Policies and ethics