Clinician's ear: learning to listen
- Date
2017-01-25
- Main contributor
University of Virginia. School of Medicine
- Summary
-
The stethoscope, an extension of the clinician's ear, is perhaps modern medicine's most characteristic symbol. Through it, doctors listen for the body to disclose its secrets. Doctors must also listen to their patients' stories. In fact, as Oliver Sacks said, "The first act of medicine is listening to a personal story." But hasn't the clinician's ear lost much of its importance now that procedures and machines can give us more direct access to pathology? In this Richardson Lecture, physician and poet John Coulehan affirms the importance of the clinician's aural attention in the clinical encounter and considers three aspects of the metaphorical clinical ear. First, listening to patients, an active process with vertical (deep listening) and horizontal (narrative) dimensions. Second, listening to the heart, the reflective core of clinical practice. And, finally, hearing the resonance of our own healing words. In medicine, the word can be an instrument of healing. Co-presented with the Office of Quality and Performance Improvement, UVA Health System
- Contributors
Coulehan, John L., 1943- (Speaker); Childress, Marcia Day (Moderator); University of Virginia. School of Medicine
- Publisher
Claude Moore Health Sciences Library
- Genre
Filmed lectures
- Subjects
Physician and patient; Listening; Medicine--Practice
- Collection
Medical Center Hour
- Unit
Claude Moore Health Sciences Library
- Language
English
- Terms of Use
The speakers in this presentation have given the University of Virginia permission to make it freely accessible online for all audiences to view. To request permission to reproduce, republish, and/or repost this presentation please contact the Historical Collections and Services Department of the Claude Moore Health Sciences Library at the University of Virginia.
- Physical Description
1 online resource (1 video file, 62:34 min.) : sound, color
Access Restrictions
This item is accessible by: the public.