Whole Person Care, Professionalism, and the Medical Mandate

Abstract

The evolution of the practice of medicine, whose history is firmly rooted in the art of healing, is paradoxical. Society has always required and been served by healers since before history was recorded. In Western society, one can trace the roots of the healer to Hellenic Greece with its Aesculapian and Hippocratic traditions. Other cultures have their own traditions, and all appear to be based firmly in a commitment to selfless service to those in need. Prior to the appearance of modern science, curing was rare, but patient satisfaction appeared to be high. From this, one can surmise that whole patient care was being dispensed long before the term was coined. The advent of the scientific revolution in the middle of the nineteenth century, which was essential to the development of the modern medical profession, initially did not appear to significantly alter the relationship between a physician and a patient.