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Editorial |
Students of medicine: broadening their studies
a University of Sheffield Medical School, The Medical School, Royal Hallamshire Hospital, Sheffield S10 2RX
b The Molebridge Practice, Leatherhead KT22 7PZ, UK
Correspondence to Fergus Hamilton, University of Sheffield Medical School, The Medical School, Royal Hallamshire Hospital, Sheffield S10 2RX, UK; E-mail: gushamilton@gmail.com
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Over the last 30 years, a growing desire for students of medicine to broaden their studies has emerged, notably in the humanities. This accompanied a culture change: increasing awareness of the limitations of the biomedical model of medicine with a realization of the need for an approach encompassing not just the patient's symptoms and signs but their interaction with the patient's life and environment.
The age old twinning of medicine and literature characterized by Apollo, the Greek god of medicine and poetry, slowly fell apart through the scientific revolution, described by Snow1 as a two culture dichotomy in 1959. This declaration inspired a new look at the way science, especially medicine, is
Declaration