Does the art of medicine matter? Does it really help us become better doctors and improve results? Dr. Claudia Welch explores how the effectiveness of a physician extends far beyond the ability to prescribe correct treatments, and how mastering the art of doctoring can make the medicine more effective. Drawing on Eastern medical traditions and experience as well as on Western science, Dr. Welch examines how we know what we know, the mechanics of doctor-patient emotional contagion, and the degree to which a patient's sensory experience in a medical office affects their experience of treatments delivered. Dr. Welch also offers practical steps that doctors can take to cultivate more refined perceptive abilities and improve results. Dr. Welch's book will be essential reading for all health care practitioners interested in understanding the art of their practice and how it can enhance therapeutic outcomes, including doctors of Ayurveda, Chinese medicine, Naturopathy, as well as western medical professionals and other complementary health practitioners.
Preface and Notes. 1. The Art of Medicine and the Qualities of a Physician. Part I. Excellence in Theoretical Knowledge. 2. Authority. 3. Perception: Developing Empathy. 4. Inference: The Role of Prediction in Medicine. 5. The Side Effects of the Pursuit of Knowledge. Part II. Extensive Practical Experience. 6. Don't Panic. Wait. 7. Nothing is Ever As It Seems. 8. Doctor as Educator. 9. Treat Complicated with Simple. 10. Subtraction First, Then Addition. 11. Patients Should Get Better. 12. When Nothing is Wrong, Pay Close Attention. 13. Healing Through Environment, Co-Workers and Protocols. 14. Working with or After Other Practitioners. 15. Turning Away Patients. 16. Tell the Truth. 17. The Role of Story in Diagnosis, Treatment and Compliance. 18. Confidence vs. Cockiness. Introduction to Chapters 19 through 23. 19. Sexual Abuse. 20. Addictions. 21. Mental Illness. 22. Eating Disorders. 23. Domestic Violence. 24. Determining the Severity of a Crisis. 25. Telephone Availability and Crisis. 26. Great Loss and Suffering. 27. Cake or Death? Choosing Hope. 28. Reflections on Part II. Part III. Dexterity. 29. Reaching Beyond Our Own Field. 30. When the Front Door Is Locked, Used the Back Door, or Even a Window. 31. When Patients Consistently Experience Odd Reactions to Remedies. 32. Loopholes - Thinking Outside the Box. 33. Reflections on Part III. Part IV. Purity. 34. Spiritual Powers vs. Effect of Character. 35. Doctor as Medicine. 36. Supporting Change Through Love and Focus. 37. Good Company. 38. Physical Purification. 39. Reflections on Part IV. Part V. Medicine. 40. Abundance. 41. Suitability. 42. Multiple Form. 43. Potency. 44. Reflections on Part V. Part VI. Compassion. Endnotes.
The concept that a physician can actively cultivate the ability to exert a positive medicinal effect on a patient is a welcome perspective in a world that prioritizes techniques, fad diets, new drugs, remedies, supplements and renegade experimental medicine to address illness. Dr. Claudia Welch teases out unconscious and subconscious assumptions of the modern day physician, and the qualities they engender, shedding light on them from an Eastern medical perspective to offer methods for improvement. This book belongs in the library of every health care practitioner, and indeed any concerned individual, who wishes to cultivate good relationships with, and good influence on, all sentient beings, and our planet. - Dr. Robert Svoboda
