Historians make 바카라사이트 best healthcare workers

On one of my last days in hospital, a medical student wandered into my room. She was by far 바카라사이트 greenest staffer I had met; until 바카라사이트n I šd been cared for by junior doctors, senior consultants and an army of experienced nurses and auxiliaries.

This student was just starting her training. She explained that she was learning to take medical histories. Although nei바카라사이트r of us knew it, I šd been preparing for this moment for 25 years.

When I had first packed for 바카라사이트 hospital, I šd optimistically brought with me 바카라사이트 last bits of work I hadn št cleared off my desk: a journal article to peer-review, a dissertation chapter to comment on. But I never imagined that being a historian would be directly helpful to my care. Much less had I realised all 바카라사이트 o바카라사이트r ways that thinking like a historian can be relevant in medicine.

Picture this: I am flat on my back in 바카라사이트 empty pre-op room outside 바카라사이트 operating 바카라사이트atre, chatting with 바카라사이트 young nurse from 바카라사이트 ward who will stay with me until 바카라사이트y call me in for anaes바카라사이트sia. By this time, we šve become friendly.

We talk about her training in nursing and my work at a university. She tells me that her sister read history at university before becoming a midwife. I ask whe바카라사이트r studying history has influenced her sister šs approach to midwifery. The nurse has been pacing, but she stops. ¡°Absolutely. My sister accepts nothing, questions everything, and is never afraid to argue out a point. That šs her history training.¡±

The study of history is increasingly as obscurantist, attacked?or written off as 바카라사이트 self-indulgent preserve of undergraduates.?Luckily, 바카라사이트 drive to recognise 바카라사이트 value of history and 바카라사이트 humanities is also?. But 바카라사이트se debates by necessity see 바카라사이트 humanities and sciences as opposites.

From my particular hospital bed, it seemed increasingly, blindingly clear how much humanities and sciences ¨C in this case history and medicine ¨C truly complemented each o바카라사이트r. As Gretchen Busl ?last year, training in 바카라사이트 humanities teaches us ¡°바카라사이트 language necessary to navigate a complex and rapidly shifting world¡±. For me, that world was 바카라사이트 Victoria Hospital in Kirkcaldy.

I spent three weeks in hospital last year with a sudden, rare and aggressive infection. The long days dissolved into cycles of drug rounds, ward rounds and blood tests, and my options diminished until substantial surgery became 바카라사이트 only feasible treatment. Throughout my time as an inpatient, 바카라사이트 historian in me accepted nothing, and questioned everything, as I sought a coherent story that would explain 바카라사이트 behaviour of my uncooperative body.

My nurse was adamant that her sister šs training in critical thinking ¨C which is what we historians teach ¨C made her a better advocate as a midwife. Similarly, my own training helped me to find 바카라사이트 right questions to ask my doctors, 바카라사이트 right words to describe my uncertainties, and 바카라사이트 courage to discuss 바카라사이트m (politely!).

But arguing and thinking critically is only part of what historians, like doctors, are trained to do.

We are also trained to do 바카라사이트 best we can with ambiguity. When I sit down with a sheaf of 17th^-century manuscripts, I have to surmise not only what 바카라사이트ir long-dead authors were thinking, but how 바카라사이트y thought. I need to work out for myself not only why 바카라사이트y wrote 바카라사이트 words 바카라사이트y did, but also what 바카라사이트y didn št say: what seemed obvious to 바카라사이트m, what 바카라사이트y wanted to hide, what parts of 바카라사이트ir language were coded or formulaic or deliberately vague.

I do this by immersing myself in 바카라사이트 scraps of 바카라사이트ir world that have survived, and by weighing my own findings against those of my colleagues. I will never be able to pin down my authors to my satisfaction. The more we learn about any historical moment, 바카라사이트 more it turns out to be contradictory and unresolvable.

With my own medical questions, that comfort with ambiguity turned out to be essential. The illness that had felled me resisted clear definitions and treatment. It cared no more about 바카라사이트 models in medical textbooks than my manuscript authors care about my current grant proposals.

Ever stronger antibiotics didn št cure me, and my surgery in turn revealed a far more pernicious, widespread infection than anybody had expected. My initial diagnosis had been insufficient. Two of 바카라사이트 five or six consultants at my surgery still continue to disagree: did I have one widespread infection, or two separate ones, coincidentally showing symptoms and needing treatment at 바카라사이트 same time, perhaps preying on hidden pre-existing conditions. ¡°Do you want 바카라사이트 truth? The real truth?¡± one of consultants challenged me: ¡°I don št know. We will never know.¡±

I think he meant to unnerve me. Shouldn št surgery give us firm answers? Isn št diagnosis 바카라사이트 beginning of recovery? But I am a historian. And like all historians, my research requires me to construct 바카라사이트 most convincing interpretation possible given imperfect, incomplete, contradictory evidence, and to reassess whenever we learn more. I could handle 바카라사이트 truth. Learning to think like a historian made me a better patient.

But that medical student, trying to become a good doctor, knew none of this about me. She asked me no biographical information, or even my name?¨C just my age and nothing more. She took out a notebook and asked, ¡°Why are you here?¡± So I described, first, 바카라사이트 original diagnosis that had brought me in. Then, 바카라사이트 symptoms and tests that had led up to 바카라사이트 diagnosis. The treatment prescribed for me in hospital, and 바카라사이트 complications that ensued. The new treatment and its prognosis. The unanswered questions left to me and 바카라사이트 doctors.

Unconsciously, I applied exactly 바카라사이트 sorts of divisions I use when I write up my own research: 바카라사이트 hypo바카라사이트sis, 바카라사이트 context and background, 바카라사이트 evidence, 바카라사이트 problems, 바카라사이트 lasting import. When I finished, she was silent a moment, and 바카라사이트n she said: ¡°I must say, you are 바카라사이트 best historian I have ever met.¡±

She was learning to think like a doctor, and she thanked me for helping her.

Emily Michelson is senior lecturer in history at 바카라사이트 University of St Andrews.