Rachel Remen

One of the electives offered this quarter is called "The Healer's Art" and was developed by Rachel Remen, a doctor for 45 years, a teacher for almost as long, and a patient for longer. She is also the author of this bestseller, which I have not yet read. On Wednesday, she gave a lecture entitled "Being Good Medicine: Realizing your personal power to make a difference."

It was an excellent, moving, and inspirational lecture. She told many heartfelt stories of the art of medicine - using one's humanistic side to heal a patient that science cannot cure. She emphasized the idea that doctors can contribute to a person's health even if their disease is incurable. Physicians need to approach patients as people not as diseases, a simple idea that often gets obscured during medical training when students get very excited about seeing rare illnesses. She shared some personal stories of how members of the health care team contributed more to her well-being by talking to her as a human being than by procedures or drugs.

Her talk really convinced me that the humanistic side of medicine is just as important as the scientific side. You have to use all your resources to heal a patient, not just treat or cure him. Many of us have fundamental skills that we gained before medical school that will help us in helping patients.

For an added plus, she mentioned the Greek God of Medicine Asclepius, for which this site is named. That was impressive.

I don't think, though, I will take the elective because it doesn't fit perfectly into my schedule. It seems like an excellent elective for thinking about many of these issues - "honoring loss," "the care of the soul," "discovering and nurturing your wholeness." Indeed, this is a course mirrored in many different medical schools, and it has been successful for many years. Though I probably won't take it this year, I am welcome to any discussion or interest on any of these related topics.