Wadia Joseph Hanna, MBBS, MPH, FFARCSI
To older Medical Practitioners, it is well known that the practice of medicine is both an art and a science. Finding this balance between the two is often a struggle for younger doctors in today’s world. Their constant reliance on technology to aid their diagnosis puts them at risk of becoming extensions of the technology that was developed to serve and assist them with making a diagnosis. It erodes their ability to communicate information to patients with compassion and empathy. Some practitioners appear to have almost morphed into extensions of the very technology they use, interacting with patients at a level that appears to be lacking in “humanism”! Courses in medical school that deal with the art of doctor patient communication, although well taught, seem to have been forgotten fairly quickly by younger doctors. They become like conduits that quickly transmit to their patients, the information obtained from their “Technology Masters”, often neglecting share this information in an empathetic manner.
