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Dec

16

“We miss more by not seeing than by not knowing.”


I’m not a doctor, and I don’t play one on TV, but isn’t that a great quote (see more here about the quote)? It’s from Sir William Osler and is used at the conclusion of this “Diagnosis” column in the New York Times Magazine this week. I really enjoy these columns because they depict just how large a role luck has in health care. More quotes from him are here.

I’ve believed this axiom about observation for a long time – when I think about the overemphasis on testing in our schools or trying to make anything that is much more accurately analyzed through qualitative means rather than quantitative ones.  It’s why I loved the storytelling I did for KnowledgeWorks – because it depended upon seeing in order to know what the small schools reform effort was accomplishing, if anything.

Seems to me that there are a lot of applications of this concept, pretty much everywhere in life.

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By Jill Miller Zimon at 1:03 pm December 16th, 2007 in Culture, Education, Health Care, Mental health 

Comments

2 Responses to ““We miss more by not seeing than by not knowing.””

  1. 1 Barbara on December 16th, 2007 8:22 pm

    I read one of Osler’s books while dealing with my disability a number of years ago.

    Osler was a GREAT proponent of OBSERVING and LISTENING to the patient. Rather than the cult of “well your blood test looks normal” that HMO-driven doctors follow these days.

    Great post!

  2. 2 Jill Miller Zimon on December 16th, 2007 10:39 pm

    Thanks, Barbara – I hope you read that NYT Mag column when you have a chance. The cases almost always highlight the importance of really listening and thinking.

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