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KNOWLEDGE SHARING: THE FIRST PART OF THE HIPPOCRATIC OATH


WE ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR ONE OTHER.

“I will respect the hard-won scientific gains of those physicians in whose steps I walk, and gladly share such knowledge as is mine with those who are to follow”.
A modern version of the Hippocratic oath has these words as its first portion. We all know this oath…or at least, have heard of it - the oath to which most medical doctors are sworn to at their induction ceremony!

While this may sound inconsequential/ rewardless/ not just a part of your personality description, it is indeed very important that we embrace the attitude of sharing knowledge with fellow medics. As a medic in any respect, it is your responsibility to share the amount of information at your disposal with other medics..

This is not to undermine the busyness of our schedules or to make us feel selfish if we are people who would naturally keep to ourselves but if we could consider this simple scenario, it just might help us see the need to teach our fellows, whether we be medical students, house officers, residents, nurses or ‘whoever knows not what you know and who needs to know’. A fellow medic comes to meet you and asks you to teach him/her Krebs’ cycle or maybe, the pattern of lymphatic drainage in the human body. You ignore that fellow’s request, not because you are a bad person but because you don’t have a choice: ‘you need to read for exams’; leaving that person to fend for himself/herself and with a less than adequate knowledge of the subject matter in question. Let us assume that in his/her practice of medicine, that fellow needs to apply the quested knowledge to help save a life but can’t do so properly, you have indirectly enhanced the loss of a life or a body function.

Yeah…this sounds all ethical, that I am well aware of. The truth, however is that as present/future medics, our responsibility to our patients is intertwined with our responsibility to fellow medics. Like one big family in the commission of healing, we, through the sharing of knowledge, can reach a wider audience.

BE TRUE TO THE PRACTICE…MAKE A DIFFERENCE BY SHARING KNOWLEDGE.

Comments

  1. Femi Oladele11 October 2013 at 03:45

    Excellent presentation of a suggested viewpoint. Share the message...

    ReplyDelete

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