Stanford Medical School Doctor, Author Teaches ‘The Art Of The Physicial’
The New York Times profiles physician, professor and author Dr. Abraham Verghese: "At Stanford, he is on a mission to bring back something he considers a lost art: the physical exam. The old-fashioned touching, looking and listening - the once prized, almost magical skills of the doctor who missed nothing and could swiftly diagnose a peculiar walk, sluggish thyroid or leaky heart valve using just keen eyes, practiced hands and a stethoscope. ... [O]ver time he has encountered more and more interns and residents who do not know how to test a patient's reflexes or palpate a spleen. He likes to joke that a person could show up at the hospital with a finger missing, and doctors would insist on an M.R.I., a CT scan and an orthopedic consult to confirm it" (Grady, 10/11).Related, earlier KHN story: Checking In With Dr. Abraham Verghese On The Importance Of The Bedside Manner (Marcy, 9/15/2009)
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