Dr. Chris Nickson

William Osler and the necessity of the exam

by | in Physician | one comment

Osler said that exams were something of a menace to the true student of medicine:

“Perfect happiness for student and teacher will come with the abolition of examinations, which are stumbling blocks and rocks of offense in the pathway of the true student.” — William Osler, from Aequanimitas, 3rd edition, 1932.
Perhaps this is because no examination can be passed by knowing the subject matter alone. One must also master the "hidden curriculum," ...

The AIDS crisis in Zambia

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Wednesday, December 1st was World AIDS Day — a day to raise awareness for the ongoing AIDS pandemic around the world and to remember the past. As a trainee intern I spent 3 months in Zambia, a time that really opened my eyes up to what AIDS was doing to the world.  Much has changed since then, antivirals have arrived in Zambia for instance, yet the disaster continues: 1 in ...

William Osler’s humor, and finding fun in medicine

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In 1905 William Osler gave his farewell address as he prepared to leave Johns Hopkins for Oxford and England. After speaking to the assembled medical students about the tragic side of medicine he said:

The comedy, too, of life will be spread before you, and nobody laughs more often than the doctor at the pranks Puck plays upon the Titanias and the Bottoms among his patients. The humorous side is really ...

Empathy is still at the heart of medicine

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Treat the patient, not the disease.

Care more particularly for the individual patient than for the especial features of the disease. — William Osler
We enter medical school eager to help the sick and the dying. Over the years this golden objective is transmuted into the base lead of disease-specific diagnostics and therapeutics. Our absorption in the strangeness of the manifestations of a remarkable pathophysiological process may distract us from its impact on ...