"Has a colleague or a patient ever asked you whether you find your knowledge of the history of medicine relevant in your practice? In CLIO IN THE CLINIC: HISTORY IN MEDICAL PRACTICE, twenty-three physicians and historians representing five countries ponder the impact of medical history on their professional lives. The reflections offered by these internists, pediatricians, psychiatrists, and other specialists hold surprises.
Whether they focus on history in the service of patients, the doctor-patient relationship, disease causation, administrative dilemmas, the timelessness of medical uncertainty, or the use of history to analyze trends in medical practice, the contributors to this volume reveal how intertwined their historical and clinical knowledge have become. Sherwin B. Nuland's "The Night I Fell in Love with Clio" describes his "eureka" moment. Gary S. Belkin explains how "We Are All Historians." Margaret Humphreys issues a warning: "Beware the Poor Historian." Charles S. Bryan titles his contribution "Coping with the HIV/AIDS Epidemic."
With its well-written first-person essays and appealing illustrations, CLIO IN THE CLINIC may be the first book to explore the clinical experience of physicians versed in medical history. It reveals just how central historical knowledge is to the thoughtful physician."