Phronesis is often described as a 'practical wisdom' adapted to the matters of everyday human life. Phronesis enables one to judge what is at stake in a situation and what means are required to bring about a good outcome. In medicine, phronesis tends to be called upon to deal with ethical issues and to offer a critique of clinical practice as a straightforward instrumental application of scientific knowledge.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCaring for patients with substance use disorders (SUD) is held in low regard and many clinicians resist treating them. To address this situation, numerous research projects assessed training program gaps and professional attitudes. In contrast, this study explored the actual clinical difficulties that a variety of hospital-based professionals encounter when treating patients with SUD.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAim Of The Study: While hospitals are adopting strategies designed to increase the overall efficiency of the healthcare system, physicians are facing expanding requirements. Such changes in work environment add new psychosocial and physical stressors. Building on a previous quantitative time-motion study, we conducted a qualitative study to better understand the work experience of internal medicine residents.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFLiaison psychiatry consists of an activity of consultation for patients affected by somatic diseases and of an activity of liaison for clinicians. The liaison work can take different forms, such as teaching of patient-physician relationship, supervision or support. To illustrate psychiatric liaison research, we present four studies conducted in our service, which explore (a) the relations between medical students' mental health and their interpersonal competence, (b) the dreams of medical students and what they reveal of their subjectivities, (c) the stakes for primary care practitioners when asking for a specialist's consult, and (d) the situated clinical practice.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFUse of the methodology of cross self-confrontation (CSC) is limited in the field of healthcare and in the context of clinical practice. We applied this methodology within an addiction medicine unit of a university hospital, as part of an exploration of addiction-related clinical difficulties. Cross self-confrontation was used according to a 3-phase design based on video recorded clinical interviews with pairs of nurses and medical doctors.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWe commend Prof. Fuchs's analysis of anorexia as a conflict of embodiment. We find it important to underline the role of the environment.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe context of the clinical encounter, and more generally of the practice of medicine, has effects on physicians. For example, it shapes their opinions, discourses, and ultimately their behaviors. The context may also directly impact physicians, sometimes affecting their physical and mental health.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMedicine is changing, and so are the causes of dissatisfaction among physicians. In a broader context characterized by the dominance of an economic rationality, in which medicine is shaped by the phenomenon of acceleration typical of modernity, we argue, in this brief article, that clinical practice is based on an engagement involving a form of suspension of the flow of time. Engagement is thereby an essential dimension of medicine, and is proposed as a lasting foundation of clinical practice.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: Collusion is a largely unconscious, dynamic bond, which may occur between patients and clinicians, between patients and family members, or between different health professionals. It is widely prevalent in the palliative care setting and provokes intense emotions, unreflective behavior, and negative impact on care. However, research on collusion is limited due to a lack of conceptual clarity and robust instruments to investigate this complex phenomenon.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPhilos Ethics Humanit Med
February 2019
Background: Previous empirical work among physicians has led us to propose that clinical practice is experienced by clinicians as an engagement-in-the-clinical-situation. In this study, we pursue our exploration of clinical practice 'on its own terms' by turning to the experience of patients.
Methods: Phenomenological analysis of in-depth individual interviews with 8 patients.
Collusion is a mostly unconscious phenomenon occurring in the therapeutic relationship, which can be commonly identified in psychiatry but more generally in medicine. Collusion is especially present in circumstances in which the effects of disease and its treatments have a heavy impact on patients and caregivers, and where the stakes are existential. Collusion is triggered by unresolved psychological problems, for example, loss, intimacy or control, which are shared by the patient and the clinician.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFOver the past two years, the Swiss Institute for Postgraduate and Further Education in Medicine has implemented a new certification in addiction medicine and an in-depth training in addiction psychiatry and psychotherapy. These developments contribute to the recognition of a specialty and the training of a new generation of specialized clinicians. This context leads to the question of the role and the skills to be passed on to non-specialists when taking care of drug addiction.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMed Health Care Philos
March 2019
In order to understand the lived experiences of physicians in clinical practice, we interviewed eleven expert, respected clinicians using a phenomenological interpretative methodology. We identified the essence of clinical practice as engagement. Engagement accounts for the daily routine of clinical work, as well as the necessity for the clinician to sometimes trespass common boundaries or limits.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPhenomenology suggests that the clinician should not only focus on the patient's body as it can be objectively grasped, and not only on the patient's inner, psychic world, notably the representations and fears about the body, but should also explore the patient's body as it is experienced and lived, what we call the « bodily experience ».
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIn addition to providing psychiatric care to patients with somatic diseases, liaison psychiatry plays a role in the teaching of the relational aspects of medical practice. This series of three articles offers a critical reflection on this topic and examples of educational programs developed at Lausanne University Hospital. In the Department of Ambulatory Care and Community Medicine, an intervention inspired by Balint groups offers to residents in general internal medicine the possibility of working through their clinical experiences and their evolving professional identity.
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