The person: a missing dimension in medical care and medical education

MEDICAL EDUCATION NEEDS TO MOVE BEYOND THE BIOMEDICAL MODEL TO REDRESS THE BALANCE BETWEEN THE TWO GREAT HISTORICAL TRADITIONS IN MEDICINE: the reductionistic and the whole person approaches. Students need to understand the distinctions between disease as an abstract concept and illness as an experience lived by their patients. They need to approach the study of both the sciences and the humanities with a rigorous, thoughtful, and balanced approach, and learn to integrate these understandings and to apply them to the care of sick persons. Medical education should be more than vocational training: it must be a liberal education. The missing dimension in medical education is the person, both the person of the patient and the person of the student. The experiences of both are the very foundations of learning, growth, and healing.