The Peter Lowe Lecture--medicine in the 1990s

This paper set out to examine the role of medicine and medical practice. It has done so by posing a series of questions related to the role of the doctor, health and health care, and the patient-doctor relationship. One of the objectives was to re-examine some of the principles of medical practice, another to consider a vision of medicine for the future. The result of this examination has not turned up anything particularly new or original. What it has done, I believe has been to endorse the principles of medicine which have been established for thousands of years. Yet perhaps in some ways they need to be re-asserted and discussed afresh. Because of the enormous changes in society, in health care and the external and internal pressures on doctors, such values can be forgotten or lost. Change is inevitable and doctors must adapt to meet the changes. They must do so in a positive way and wherever possible take the lead in shaping the health and health care of the future. The values of the future are those of the past, though the setting and context may be quite different. These values include, the importance of caring, the central role of communication, the need to be involved in health as well as illness, the implications of making a diagnosis and the fundamental nature of education and training. There is a need to retain common sense and perspective in making decisions. My vision of the future of medicine is therefore clear.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)