“The first [quality] to be named must always be the power of attention, of giving one's whole mind to the patient without the interposition of anything of oneself. It sounds simple but only the very greatest doctors ever fully attain it. ... The second thing to be striven for is intuition. This sounds an impossibility, for who can control that small quiet monitor? But intuition is only interference from experience stored and not actively recalled. ... The last aptitude I shall mention that must be attained by the good physician is that of handling the sick man's mind.” MenGivingMindFirstsWholeLastsScienceSoundSimpleAttentionQualityGreatnessQuietDoctorsSickPatientSimplicityOneselfIntuitionPhysiciansImpossibilityInterferenceAptitudeSick Man Author:Wilfred Trotter
“The ordinary patient goes to his doctor because he is in pain or some other discomfort and wants to be comfortable again; he is not in pursuit of the ideal of health in any direct sense. The doctor on the other hand wants to discover the pathological condition and control it if he can. The two are thus to some degree at cross purposes from the first, and unless the affair is brought to an early and happy conclusion this diversion of aims is likely to become more and more serious as the case goes on.” IfsWantFirstsTwoHandsPainSciencePurposeCasesConditionsSeriousHealthGoes OnDegreesComfortableOrdinaryIdealsCrossesDirectDoctorsAimPatientAffairPursuitConclusionDiscomfortDiversion Author:Wilfred Trotter
