University at Buffalo School of Medicine - Yearbook (Buffalo, NY)

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HISTGRY OF MEDICINE An analysis of modern medicine at the mid-twentieth century is most difficult for one as close to its heart as a medical student. Those of us being trained in the practice are familiar with the forces immediately acting upon us, but perhaps not enough with other influences in the dynamics of modern medicine. ln the transition from older traditions to our modern practice . . . in fact throughout medicine, it seems . . . the interplay of Science and the Art of medicine has had its effects on us. The growth and development of Science and its child Technology, and their influence on our careers, is evident at a glance. The Science has always been the Progress in medicine . . . yet we write and discuss as always of the Art. It is the development of the Art that should interest us the more, for it is the most constant and least-altered of the two. What has happened to the Art these t I I l 1 l l i ,. N.- , . , ,,,,, Y Andreas Vesalius H514-641

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past few thousand years? Where do we find its influence on the young physician of 1951, and what are its prospects in the rapidly-changing world? The great men in medicine through history have been great artists. They combined things in their hands of especial skill to effect a definite purpose . . . the improvement of their patients. Included among the things combined was unquestionably a sensitivity to people . . . an awareness of what organic disease means to the patient. Their sensitivity has persisted, and is thought of today as a prerequisite to admission to the study of medicine. Our difficulties of selection are in part the result of inadequate assessment of this sensitivity. With steady progression toward an individual-centerecl culture in America, we find a paradox in medicine: we are trelaly effective through Science . . . the microbes fall right and left . . . and we are left with the patients whose restoration to health lies in that intangible area of the Art, the person-to-person relationship. Great progress has been made in this area, but much greater progress will bc made. Reactive causes of disease now face the frontiers of medicine. We do not deny the contributions of research in the allied and basic sciences. Their future is assured, their tasks outlined anew by each discovery, and their recruitment of minds and materials is the American backbone. The future of the Art of medicine is less certain. Its teaching is short, and its practice deficient with such a dazzling contemporary as Science. It is also threatened by major alterations in our social structure which by their nature would preclude its practice. Nevertheless, individuals within and without medicine are stimulating the profession with their development and utilization of knowledge and techniques of inter-personal relationships. These people, together with the wise physician, are the present-day pioneers in the Art of medicine. The responsibilities of the physician are increasing as the power of medicine over human minds and bodies increases. Medical practice thus demands insight, personality and understanding. Let us study the phases of the Art of medicine in our new schools, for there lie new means for the promotion of health, the prevention of illness, the restoration of health, and the rehabilitation of the patient in the medicine of the future.