What would you consider an ideal doctor visit? We are accustomed to receiving a prescription for medicine at each physician visit, but is that really going to produce the best outcome for our health? Why have a doctor’s skills become limited to diagnosing and pill procurement? Let’s look at the origin of the word doctor.
Doctor is a word meaning ‘teacher’ from the Latin ‘docere,’ to teach. Physician comes from the Latin word ‘physica’ which means ‘natural science’ and Greek word ‘physis/physikos’ meaning ‘natural,’ thus the term ‘physician’ meant ‘naturalist.’ Later the French word ‘physic’ meant ‘treatment or remedy.’ Based on the origin of the word, the best description of a physician/doctor is a teacher of natural remedies.
An article in the British Medical Journal, one of the oldest and most influential medical journals in the world, notes doctors are effective teachers when given sufficient time. After more than 25 years of endless streams of paperwork and mandated protocols, restricting my time with patients, I have stepped away.
I am now practicing medicine and teaching patients as a doctor was originally intended to practice. I am putting the ‘docere’ back in its rightful place, at the forefront of the doctor patient relationship. I am a teacher of natural remedies – the most modern and the most reliable. The ideal doctor visit is allowing the patient to spend time with someone who listens, teaches and can coordinate complex aspects of their care. I have found that this approach is truly putting the care and the health back into health-care.
Source:
http://www.bmj.com/rapid-response/2011/11/01/origin-word-doctor-teach
