VIEWPOINT
Literature and medicine
Neil SHARMA
Introduction
I address a rather difficult, yet fascinating topic: that of 'literature
and medicine'. Difficult subjects are challenges, which we can
address in a presentation of this nature. Medicine and literature
may appear divergent in many ways but let me weave an interaction
of professional interest with these subjects.
You will learn about the wider sphere of challenge that medicine
offers us. To understand any combination of subjects, we have
to look at their histories. Understanding the background gives
one the mechanism of understanding the current mechanics. Only
then can one propel into the future.
Today, you stand at the cross road of modern medicine. The concepts
of problem based learning (PBL), patient-oriented evidence that
matters (POEM) and evidence-based medicine (EBM) are new. Against
these methods you have detailed didactic lectures of yesteryears.
A thorough grilling in anatomy, physiology and biochemistry took
up to 18 months at medical school in my time. Science and technology
have advanced at a rapid pace in the last 20 years. The volume
of learning has become even more burdensome. Study has become
overwhelming.
What was important and practical? Was it volumes of anatomic knowledge
or should it be practical methods to deal with common problems
in practice? The seeds of EBM and PBL mushroomed. Clinical-based
learning became the order of the day. The net result was a paradigm
shift in the area of medical education. Who is a better graduate?
Who is a better physician? The evidence is still not available.
It will possibly never be known. The literature is still amiss.
The literature is amiss on a lot of issues. Medical literature
when recorded is very important as it demonstrates the ascent
of medicine from humble beginnings. The ancient art of observation,
collection of data and drawing up an hypothesis is topical and
an inherent part of any scientific study. When the hypothesis
explains actual happenings it is accepted or we go on another
wild goose chase. Documented medical literature remains constant
and explains the rationale of man's thinking as we weave our way
through life. This reliance on documentation serves as a platform
on our thinking, its directions and shifts in the thinking process
to what it is today, and possibly gives us a glimpse of its potential
in the future. Now that we have tied up the two components of
this presentation, let's proceed in some orderly manner
A
history of medicine
The Greek physician Hippocrates is the father of medicine. I say
to you, documented medical literature is the mother of medicine.
Approximately 500 BC at the height of the Greek civilization,
Hippocrates practiced medicine amongst his other specialties:
philosophy and arts. Records of his Treatise were documented,
to be passed onto generations of physicians. At the fall of the
Greek empire, the Romans took over reigns of power and the centres
of medical excellence shifted to Rome and later to Europe. Islamic
influences in medicine followed with aspects of preventative care
(clean water, central sewage disposal and asepsis practiced) in
greater Mesopotamia.
Only after the 17th century, European civilizations arose from
progressive barbarianism; names like Joseph Lister, Louis Pasteur,
Madame Curie and Alexander Fleming entered the medical arena and
literature. Watson and Crick discovered the DNA sequence in the
early 1960s and this led to clear understanding of our genetic
make-up. Gene mapping has now followed. We are now ready for human
cloning, genetic engineering and genetic intervention in non-communicable
diseases, including cancer prevention.
For a moment let's look before Hippocrates. The witch doctor,
our true ancestor, was close to nature and god. His remedies included
concoctions of roots, bark, leaves, fruit and the like. The mumbo-jumbo
chants healed just as well. The injured, hurt and disabled may
or may not have benefited. Yet the emotional and spiritual needs
were taken came of by this ancient practitioner.
The area of emotional/mental/spiritual health is no better taken
care of today than it was in prehistory. Our physicians of today
have delved into the science of medicine. They have uncovered
the genetic code and have the most powerful of antibiotics, yet
fail to unveil the mysteries of the psyche, emotion and spirituality.
Our biomedical model of disease seldom takes into account holism
in medicine. Our training remains grossly deficient in this area.
The bio-socio-medical model attempts to address some of those
deficiencies. Specialty-based pathology and separations make holistic
treatment almost impossible.
In the community we need to address the wholeness of existence.
Then again not all is physical. A lot of the ailments are emotional
and spiritual which we are not trained to handle. We have no special
counselling skills so we are truly deficient, lost, and we withdraw
after issuing our sick sheets and prescriptions for needless antibiotics,
sedatives and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory agents.
While on the topic of prescriptions, note that as medical personnel
we need to identify the true need for antibiotics. We have a wide
array of potent antibiotics and we use them without compassion
to consequences. Like the American GI, we hold a loaded machine
gun, ready to discharge even at a mirage in the desert. We are
contributing to the species-jumping of germs like the SARS virus
and avian flu virus. We see the re-emergence of tuberculosis associated
with HIV. Who is winning the germ warfare? Definitely we are not
winning from our indiscrete usage. We are compounding the growing
problem of drug resistance.
Today you stand at the crossroads of 'specialty' in medicine.
As students of medicine, a range of specialists has groomed you.
The novelness of technology and science are encompassing. The
equipment around you remains unique and far-reaching. You are
becoming totally dependent on smart machines. Lest you forget,
emotional ill health as a result of stress in life can give rise
to major physical/psychological stress and sickness. We need to
able to address this in our school from day 1 in our PBL/POEM
curriculum.
Beware! You face a glut of legal practitioners. The influence
of the Internet on a population who thrives on information and
increasing self-centeredness is worrying to say the least. Even
a misadventure can prove litigatious. Professional defamation
becomes truly real, medical indemnity insurance a necessity, and
the practice of defensive medicine the end result. Medicine was
never intended to be practiced as such.
What then may you ask was it intended to be? Primary care in the
community is what medicine should be. Listening to your people,
looking them in the eye and teaching them better ways of surviving
the 21st century. Primary care is about holistic healing. Not
just the cure of physical conditions but also of the psyche and
spirit. Too many of us leave the domains of medical school armed
with a lopsided view of life. Physical ailments form but a small
fraction of ill health in society. We are ill prepared as physicians
to tackle the emotional and spiritual needs of our patients.
Let's move to the documented medical literature.
The
mother of medicine
Our attempts to seek established knowledge are based on retrieval
of relevant medical literature along with clinical appreciation
of the sick, diseased and the dead. Based on literature, we learn
of previous methods of therapy and their clinical response. Literature
may in fact be anecdotal thence the knowledge, suspect. The evidence
of therapy may be hard to come by or difficult to determine. In
all this activity lies the quest for knowledge: be it to heal
and to determine the evidence of its degree of efficacy or its
uselessness.
A substantial amount of your EBM will prove futile soon after
your graduation. Art will supercede the science of your medicine.
The literature of medicine remains the only constant, which identifies
the changes in practice.
On
a personal level
In
my own practice, literature continues to play a dominant role.
For three years after graduation I never lifted a book, strangely.
I was overwhelmed by the practice of medicine, raising a family
all too quickly and pressures to work as an obstetrics registrar.
Eighty hours a week was backbreaking even 26 years ago. Fourteen
years ago in private practice for the first time, the need to
refresh arose. Being dipped in ice water was the sensation for
the first time in primary care, solo practice. This was a new
ball game. I had no background in handling emotions and spiritual
ill health. I was much into the biomedical model of illness where
emotions and spiritually had no place. The learning curve was
great and tedious till it has become second nature to look at
each patient and ask oneself, what is this patient's need? What
is thinking behind the patient's question? What is the unmet need?
About the same time I took on a passion for family medicine and
was thrust with the editor's role by the fledgling Fiji College
of General Practitioners. Learning to edit the Fiji General Practitioner
11 years ago was my formal entry into the world of medicine literature.
There, I learnt the art behind the science. Learning to read,
edit, and peer-review articles broadened my horizons on all facts
of medicine. As a natural progression, with the development of
the Asia-Pacific Journal of Family Medicine I was called to serve
on the Editorial Board to peer-review, edit and contribute articles
at the Asia-Pacific Forum. Professional accolades followed, in
the form of being awarded 'One of the 2000 academics of the 20th
century' by the Bibliographic Society of Cambridge University.
The World Organization of National Colleges, Academies, and Associations
of Family Medicine awarded the Global-Doctor Award in October
2003 for outstanding work in the area of medical publication.
This is how medicine and literature can be blended in one's life.
Now I plan to blend in wider literature by understanding people
like Dr Anton Chekhov.1
Truly, medical literature records developments in medicine. Engaging
both mother (medical literature) and father (medicine) in the
act, results in good progeny (the practitioner). That would be
one's aspiration as a newer graduate.
Empowered with holism you may truly practice medicine as it was
intended. With maturity comes empathy and compassion, building
trust as you progress in your own professional life. Ready to
make a difference in the global village.
Thankyou.
References
| 1 | 1 Cope J. Doctor Chekhov: a study in literature and medicine. Chale: Isle of Wight Cross Publishing, 1997. |