I learned about this paper through the Evidence-Based Health forum [ https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/webadmin?A0=evidence-based-health ].
"Phronesis is not a substitute for episteme. Scientific knowledge derived from one’s experience is limited in its applicability beyond those experiences. It is the role of medical research to discover (an approximation of the) truth in medicine. It is the role of the clinician to balance these truths with the hopes, fears, and desires of each patient."
CITATION: Becoming a Phronimos: Evidence-Based Medicine, Clinical Decision Making, and the Role of Practical Wisdom in Primary Care
Lisa Cosgrove and Allen F. Shaughnessy
The Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine August 2023, 36 (4) 531-536; DOI: https://doi.org/10.3122/jabfm.2023.230034R1
ABSTRACT: There has been much discussion about the overmedicalization of human experience and the problems incurred by overzealous action-oriented medical care. In this paper we describe the Aristotelean virtue of phronesis, or practical wisdom, and discuss how it can be developed by interested clinicians. We argue that becoming a phronimos requires conscious attention to one’s practice by using feedback to continually improve. But there must also be judicious adherence to clinical practice guidelines and advocacy for people-as-patients at individual, community, and national levels.
HIFA profile: Neil Pakenham-Walsh is coordinator of HIFA (Healthcare Information For All), a global health community that brings all stakeholders together around the shared goal of universal access to reliable healthcare information. HIFA has 20,000 members in 180 countries, interacting in four languages and representing all parts of the global evidence ecosystem. HIFA is administered by Global Healthcare Information Network, a UK-based nonprofit in official relations with the World Health Organization. Email: neil@hifa.org
