I ran a workshop for “Connecting for Health” yesterday, and someone gave me this little story, entitled “A classic example of knowledge in practice”.
They have no physicians, but when a man is ill, they lay him in the public square, and the passers-by come up to him, and if they have ever had his disease or have known anyone who has suffered from it, they give him advice, recommending him to do whatever they found good in their own case, or in the case known to them; and no one is allowed to pass the sick man in silence without asking him what his ailment is.
Histories of Herodotus: A history source of Persian Empire of Achaemenian era.
Herodotus (c. 484-225 BC); Translated by: George Rawlinson. Connecting for HealthConnecting for Health
In our “knowledge-sharing civilisation” I wonder whether we have the equivalent of too many physicians, no public square, a lack of passers-by or just a lack of intellectual compassion?
April 1, 2007 at 3:12 am
Too many physicians? The ones we have are working 16-hour days and wasting time on “patients” trying to scam their way onto some disability list.
Lack of compassion? How about too many parasites (with their attendant lawyers) demanding help and then suing you if you offered some without having the right credentials?
April 19, 2007 at 8:14 pm
Hi Karl,
I’d intended this as an analogy for knowledge-sharing in organisations – not a dig at our beleaguered health professionals. (I have far too many clinicians as relatives!)
Cheers,
Chris
March 4, 2009 at 10:33 am
in the analogy, i’d suggest that technology can provide the public square. Any ailment i or my family have i use the web to do research on. In an age of increased specialisation, it allows the patient to understand thier condition. This allows the patient to work with the physician. The reality of this, is that my son has a condition that the nearest hospital will treat. But it only treats two cases a year. using the web and other contacts we have read up on research and are getting treatment from a specialist in birmingham.
The one fly in the ointment, is that there is very little firm evidence base(randomised control trial) for rare conditions! So, we have to do the best based on what knowledge we can gain and the advice we get from clinicians.
What i like about the hereodutus example, is that it is firmly patient centric.
Cheers