Medicine, science, uncertainty, and art: Osler on diagnosis and decision-making

¶ … Medicine:

The aspect of medicine as a science is what students in the medical field are expected to grasp for their tests and it's the main reason why these students study. Medicine is considered as a science of uncertainty despite of its exposure of students to patient-oriented and bio-psychosocial models in the current medical education systems. The uncertainty in the medical field is inherent because of every aspect of complex behaviors with which results are non-linear. Consequently, acceptance of uncertainty is an essential skill for medical practitioners in order to promote effective care and self-preservation. While the extent of uncertainty in medicine is rarely discussed because of the increase in medical knowledge, expectations and abilities, it can improve experiential learning (Wellbery, 2010).

Evidence-based practice in the medical field provides various ways for weighing and communicating uncertainty though it does so from a probabilistic instead of human perspective. Medicine is a science of uncertainty because doctors are required to make decisions based on incomplete information. This is regardless of the fact that they carry an extra burden of establishing a correct diagnosis and developing secure and effective treatment. While medicine is expected to be perfect, it's a science of probability because human beings are naturally prone to mistakes.

Similar to effective experimentation, efficient medicine is dependent on past successes but really achievable only when a customized regimen is developed for a particular situation. This contributes to medicine being a science of probability because the development of a customized diagnosis for a specific condition involves experiments. Therefore, the science of uncertainty is an essential and common factor in the medical field because doctors are expected to lessen its impact to offer the most suitable care (Frances, 2008).

Medicine is also an art of probability because of the expectation for students to develop hands-on experience that isn't taught in medical education. This process involves assimilating the good into the medical practice while learning from the bad through observation. As an art of probability, medical practitioners experiments various measures when developing tailor-made diagnosis for specific health conditions. Consequently, these practitioners gain experience, which is extremely valuable and of ultimate significance in their practices (King-Brown, 2005). For example, in attempts to understand a patient's illness and develop alternatives for the condition, medical practitioners are required to possess active listening and good communication skills. These important skills are not learnt from a textbook but rather developed from first-hand experiences in the medical practice.

Medicine is also an art of probability because of the continual development of medical knowledge, abilities, and expectations. Because of uncertainties in developing effective measures to deal with various health conditions, these processes involve chances for errors through the art of probability. Since sicknesses are not as obvious as they may seem, medicine is an art of probability because requires wisdom, awareness of reality of diseases, and creative thinking ways rather than mere knowledge (Healy, 2007). The art of probability in medicine transcends all aspects when anxious individuals with severe health conditions that may result in disability or death require physicians to develop the appropriate diagnosis.