Assignment: Practice of Medicine Responses

Assignment: Practice of Medicine Responses

Medicine in industrialised countries is scientific medicine,” write Glymour and Stalker.1 The claim tacitly made by US or European physicians and tacitly relied on by their patients is that their palliatives and procedures have been shown by science to be effective. Although physicians’ medical practice is not itself science, it is based on science and on training that is supposed to teach physicians to apply scientific knowledge to people in a rational way. This distinction between understanding nature and power over nature, between pure and applied science, was first made by Francis Bacon in his Novum Organum of 1620.2(p28) Medicine as practiced today is applied science. Thomas Huxley pointed out in his address at the opening of Mason’s College in Birmingham, England, in 1880 that applied science is nothing but the application of pure science to particular classes of problems.3 No one can safely make these deductions unless he or she has a firm grasp of the principles. Yet, the idea of the practice of clinical medicine as an art persists. What is this? Does it amount to anything more than romantic rhetoric—a nod in the direction of humanitarianism? Is this what the author of a guide to the membership examination of the Royal College of Physicians referred to as late as 1975 when a guide stated that its membership examination “remains partly a test of culture, although knowledge of Latin, Greek, French, and German is no longer required”?4

Like many large textbooks, Cecil Textbook of Medicine begins with a discourse on medicine as an art.5 Its focus is the patient, defined as a fellow human seeking help because of a problem relating to his or her health. From this emerges the comment that for medicine as an art, its chief and characteristic instrument must be human faculty. What aspects of the faculty matter? We are offered the ability to listen, to empathize, to inform, to maintain solidarity—for the physician, in fact, to be part of the treatment. No one would want to dispute the desirability of these properties, but they describe, first, moral dimensions to care—we listen because of respect for persons and so on—and second, skills. Interpersonal skills may be frequently lacking, just as technical skills may be. But they can, at least in principle, be observed, taught, tested, and their value assessed, just like any practical technical skill.

We could probably say much the same about the third part of the mantra of medical teachers: attitudes. Whereas these may be more dependent on physicians’ upbringing and personalities, attitudes can be changed with education or appropriate legislation, can be observed and scored, and can be evaluated in their contribution to patient care or diagnostic technique—at least in principle and even if these are crudely done. Part of the art of clinical medicine may lie in these areas, but not exclusively so: the art is not just practical performance. I want to suggest that the art and science of medicine are inseparable, part of a common culture. Knowing is an art; science requires personal participation in knowledge.

Intellectual problems have an impersonal, objective character in that they can be conceived of as existing relatively independently of the particular thought, experiences, aims, and actions of individual people. Without such an impersonal, objective character, the practice of medicine would be impossible. Medical practice depends on generalizations that can be reliably applied and scientifically demonstrated. Without understanding people as objects in this way, there can be no such thing as medical science.”1 In the accumulation of such knowledge, physicians—like engineers—share experiences individually through meetings and publications. Within the community of its discipline, this intersubjectivity establishes the objectivity of science: it is knowledge that can be publicly tested. This approach can be summed up as a doctrine of standard empiricism in which the specific aim of inquiry is to produce objective knowledge and truth—and to provide explanations and understanding. Science as pure science is knowledge of the natural environment for its own sake, or rather, for understanding. Science as applied science or technology is the exercise of a working control over it. Such is medicine. In its methods, scientific thinking should—must—be insulated from all kinds of psychologic, sociologic, economic, political, moral, and ideologic factors that tend to influence thought in life and society. Without those proscriptions, objective knowledge of truth degenerates into prejudice and ideology.

Important information for writing discussion questions and participation

Welcome to class

Hello class and welcome to the class and I will be your instructor for this course. This is a -week course and requires a lot of time commitment, organization, and a high level of dedication. Please use the class syllabus to guide you through all the assignments required for the course. I have also attached the classroom policies to this announcement to know your expectations for this course. Please review this document carefully and ask me any questions if you do. You could email me at any time or send me a message via the “message” icon in halo if you need to contact me. I check my email regularly, so you should get a response within 24 hours. If you have not heard from me within 24 hours and need to contact me urgently, please send a follow up text to

I strongly encourage that you do not wait until the very last minute to complete your assignments. Your assignments in weeks 4 and 5 require early planning as you would need to present a teaching plan and interview a community health provider. I advise you look at the requirements for these assignments at the beginning of the course and plan accordingly. I have posted the YouTube link that explains all the class assignments in detail. It is required that you watch this 32-minute video as the assignments from week 3 through 5 require that you follow the instructions to the letter to succeed. Failure to complete these assignments according to instructions might lead to a zero. After watching the video, please schedule a one-on-one with me to discuss your topic for your project by the second week of class. Use this link to schedule a 15-minute session. Please, call me at the time of your appointment on my number. Please note that I will NOT call you.

Please, be advised I do NOT accept any assignments by email. If you are having technical issues with uploading an assignment, contact the technical department and inform me of the issue. If you have any issues that would prevent you from getting your assignments to me by the deadline, please inform me to request a possible extension. Note that working fulltime or overtime is no excuse for late assignments. There is a 5%-point deduction for every day your assignment is late. This only applies to approved extensions. Late assignments will not be accepted.

If you think you would be needing accommodations due to any reasons, please contact the appropriate department to request accommodations.

Plagiarism is highly prohibited. Please ensure you are citing your sources correctly using APA 7th edition. All assignments including discussion posts should be formatted in APA with the appropriate spacing, font, margin, and indents. Any papers not well formatted would be returned back to you, hence, I advise you review APA formatting style. I have attached a sample paper in APA format and will also post sample discussion responses in subsequent announcements.

Your initial discussion post should be a minimum of 200 words and response posts should be a minimum of 150 words. Be advised that I grade based on quality and not necessarily the number of words you post. A minimum of TWO references should be used for your initial post. For your response post, you do not need references as personal experiences would count as response posts. If you however cite anything from the literature for your response post, it is required that you cite your reference. You should include a minimum of THREE references for papers in this course. Please note that references should be no more than 5 years old except recommended as a resource for the class. Furthermore, for each discussion board question, you need ONE initial substantive response and TWO substantive responses to either your classmates or your instructor for a total of THREE responses. There are TWO discussion questions each week, hence, you need a total minimum of SIX discussion posts for each week. I usually post a discussion question each week. You could also respond to these as it would count towards your required SIX discussion posts for the week.

I understand this is a lot of information to cover in 5 weeks, however, the Bible says in Philippians 4:13 that we can do all things through Christ that strengthens us. Even in times like this, we are encouraged by God’s word that we have that ability in us to succeed with His strength. I pray that each and every one of you receives strength for this course and life generally as we navigate through this pandemic that is shaking our world today. Relax and enjoy the course!

Hi Class,

Please read through the following information on writing a Discussion question response and participation posts.

Contact me if you have any questions.

Important information on Writing a Discussion Question

• Your response needs to be a minimum of 150 words (not including your list of references)
• There needs to be at least TWO references with ONE being a peer reviewed professional journal article.
• Include in-text citations in your response
• Do not include quotes—instead summarize and paraphrase the information
• Follow APA-7th edition
• Points will be deducted if the above is not followed

Participation –replies to your classmates or instructor

• A minimum of 6 responses per week, on at least 3 days of the week.
• Each response needs at least ONE reference with citations—best if it is a peer reviewed journal article
• Each response needs to be at least 75 words in length (does not include your list of references)
• Responses need to be substantive by bringing information to the discussion or further enhance the discussion. Responses of “I agree” or “great post” does not count for the word count.
• Follow APA 7th edition
• Points will be deducted if the above is not followed

• Remember to use and follow APA-7th edition for all weekly assignments, discussion questions, and participation points.
• Here are some helpful links
• The is a great resource