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Third World of Medicine

Third World of Medicine There are two sorts of history: narrative, which tells what happened, and explanatory, which tells how it happened and why. Schoolchildren usually learn narrative history, which can be quite absorbing. The story of wars and battles, deeds of heroism and adventure, biographical accounts of important people—such details fill up most of the history texts used in grade school. If we jump from grade school to medical school, we find that traditional medical history, for the most part, follows the narrative type, but shows very little dramatic excitement. Too much of it takes the form that so-and-so was born here or there, had one or another kind of education, discovered such-and-such, wrote and published much (or little), exerted this or that influence, and died. And most students find it extraordinarily dull. When offered masses of such straightforward information, they may reply, "So what?," and this question is very difficult to answer. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png JAMA American Medical Association

Third World of Medicine

JAMA , Volume 254 (19) – Nov 15, 1985

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References (5)

Publisher
American Medical Association
Copyright
Copyright © 1985 American Medical Association. All Rights Reserved. Applicable FARS/DFARS Restrictions Apply to Government Use.
ISSN
0098-7484
eISSN
1538-3598
DOI
10.1001/jama.1985.03360190108039
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

There are two sorts of history: narrative, which tells what happened, and explanatory, which tells how it happened and why. Schoolchildren usually learn narrative history, which can be quite absorbing. The story of wars and battles, deeds of heroism and adventure, biographical accounts of important people—such details fill up most of the history texts used in grade school. If we jump from grade school to medical school, we find that traditional medical history, for the most part, follows the narrative type, but shows very little dramatic excitement. Too much of it takes the form that so-and-so was born here or there, had one or another kind of education, discovered such-and-such, wrote and published much (or little), exerted this or that influence, and died. And most students find it extraordinarily dull. When offered masses of such straightforward information, they may reply, "So what?," and this question is very difficult to answer.

Journal

JAMAAmerican Medical Association

Published: Nov 15, 1985

There are no references for this article.