thesis meaning in medicine

Writing a Postgraduate or Doctoral Thesis: A Step-by-Step Approach

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• Usha Y. Nayak 4 ,
• Praveen Hoogar 5 ,
• Srinivas Mutalik 4 &
• N. Udupa 6  

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A key characteristic looked after by postgraduate or doctoral students is how they communicate and defend their knowledge. Many candidates believe that there is insufficient instruction on constructing strong arguments. The thesis writing procedure must be meticulously followed to achieve outstanding results. It should be well organized, simple to read, and provide detailed explanations of the core research concepts. Each section in a thesis should be carefully written to make sure that it transitions logically from one to the next in a smooth way and is free of any unclear, cluttered, or redundant elements that make it difficult for the reader to understand what is being tried to convey. In this regard, students must acquire the information and skills to successfully create a strong and effective thesis. A step-by-step description of the thesis/dissertation writing process is provided in this chapter.

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Nayak, U.Y., Hoogar, P., Mutalik, S., Udupa, N. (2023). Writing a Postgraduate or Doctoral Thesis: A Step-by-Step Approach. In: Jagadeesh, G., Balakumar, P., Senatore, F. (eds) The Quintessence of Basic and Clinical Research and Scientific Publishing. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-99-1284-1_48

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Writing a thesis

A thesis is a written report of your research, and generally contains the following chapters: introduction, methods, results, discussion and conclusion. It will also have a list of references and appendices. Check with your faculty/department/school for degree-specific thesis requirements. You may also find it helpful to look at published theses (in your department) to see how they are structured. (Internationally, the ‘thesis’ may be referred to as a ‘dissertation’).

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6.11: Writing a Thesis Statement

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Readers always want to know “What is the big idea?” Every type of non-fiction writing – from a short essay to a 10-page term paper to a lengthy thesis or dissertation– needs a controlling idea as a “spine” that holds the paper together (see Figure 6.6 ). Look at Table 6.3 : Topics and Thesis Statements for a comparison of topics and thesis statements.

Table 6.3: Topics and thesis statements: A comparison

Figure 6.6: Thesis skeleton

Begin by writing a working thesis statement. You will need this working thesis statement when you begin to outline and organize your assignment. As you continue to develop your paper, you can limit the working thesis statement if it is too broad or expand it if it proves too narrow for what you want to say. Each draft of the thesis statement will bring you closer to the exact wording that expresses your controlling idea.

Student Tip

The Controlling Idea

The controlling idea should be broader for a longer piece of writing than for a shorter piece of writing. Make sure the controlling idea is appropriate for the length of the assignment. How many pages it will take to explain and explore the controlling or main idea in detail? Be reasonable with your estimate. Then expand or trim the controlling or main idea to match the required length.

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How to write a Doctoral Thesis

Prof. HR Ahmad, Department of Biological and Biomedical Sciences, The Aga Khan University, Karachi, Pakistan. E-mail: [email protected]

Note: * Ahmad HR. In: Medical Writing. Eds. SA Jawaid, MH Jafary & SJ Zuberi. PMJA, 1997 Ed II: 133-142.

PATIENT care and teaching are rather well established components of our medical career. However, with the passage of time a third component has started to influence our medical culture, namely research. 1 - 4 How to accept this challenge is a question. 5 Indeed, teaching and research form a dialectic unit, meaning that teaching without a research component is like a soup without salt. It is a well-established fact that the research activity of an institution is directly proportional to the number of qualified and committed PhD candidates. An inspiring infrastructure, laboratory facilities and libraries are pre-requisites for a research culture to grow. 6 - 8 This forms the basis of a generation cycle for an institution, so that research activity and its culture continues to grow from one generation to the next. The main objective of doctoral work in biomedical sciences is to develop a galaxy of scientist physicians and surgeons possessing high degree of humility, selflessness and ethical superiority. Such a programme will add a scholastic dimension to the clinical faculty.

Education in how to write a doctoral thesis or dissertation should be a part of the postgraduate curriculum, parallel to the laboratory work and Journal Club activities during the PhD studies and/or residency levels. 9 , 10 The overall structure of a doctoral thesis is internationally standardized. However, it varies in style and quality, depending upon how original the work is, and how much the author has understood the work. Therefore a thorough discussion with supervisor, colleagues and assistance from other authors through correspondence can be useful sources for consultation.

The choice of a topic for a doctoral thesis is a crucial step. It should be determined by scanning the literature whether the topic is original or similar work has already been done even a hundred years ago. It is the responsibility of both the supervisor and the PhD candidate to sort out this problem by continuous use of internet and a library. 11 The work leading to the PhD degree can originate from research in following spheres: 12

• b) Methodology
• c) Diagnostic
• d) Therapeutic and Management
• e) Epidemiology

The availability of internationally standardized methods, as well as research committed supervisors can enable physicians and surgeons to do PhD work in both basic and clinical health sciences. The importance of research in basic health sciences cannot be overemphasized. It is rather the base of the applied sciences. There are many instances where the elucidation of a mechanism involved in a process awaits the development of an adequate methodology. 13 In such a scenario; a new method is like a new eye. Research activity in the field of (a) and (b) illuminates the research directions for (c) (d) and (e). It is worth noting that sometimes important basic questions can come from (e) and stimulate research activity in the domain of basic health sciences. 14 , 15

Types of Doctoral Thesis

TYPE-I: Book Form: a classical style. The blueprint of this form is shown in Table-I .

Type-I: The Classical Book Form

TYPE-II: Cumulative Doctoral thesis: A modem but quite useful practice.

INTRODUCTION

A book containing the pearls of a PhD work has standardized divisions and formats, where the number of pages should be weighted in terms of content rather than container. The book includes summary, introduction, materials and methods, results, discussion, conclusions, references and acknowledgements.

Two exercises are mandatory before starting a PhD programme:

• Literature survey using a regular library hours and internet surfing
• Familiarization with the hands-on-experience of methodology involved in the work
• The importance of a continuous literature survey using library, internet and direct correspondence with authors across the globe in the same field cannot be over-emphasized. The main goal of this exercise is to pinpoint the unresolved problem in the literature. An attempt to solve this problem now becomes the topic of the PhD thesis. All the relevant references should be collected, and carefully preserved in the form of a card system arranged alphabetically according to themes and authors. The introduction of the thesis should be styled like a review article with a critical analysis of the work of authors in the literature. The aims of the present PhD work can then also be addressed in the form of questions. The objectives would then deal with how to achieve the aims of the proposed study.

MATERIALS / SUBJECTS AND METHODS

Now comes the most crucial and functional part of the doctoral work, the materials/subjects and methods section. This part can be considered as the motor of the PhD work. The reliability, sensitivity and specificity of the motor must be checked before embarking on a long journey. Controlling the controls is the best guide for a precise and authentic work. Usually materials and methods contain components such as a description of the species involved, their number, age, weight and anthropometric parameters, types of surgical procedures and anesthesia if applied, and a detailed description of methodology. Continuous or point measurements should be thoroughly described. However, a dynamic method should always be preferred to static one.

The experimental protocol should be designed after a small pilot study, which is especially advisable in research on human subjects. A detailed and well-thought experimental protocol forms the basis of conditions under which the results would be obtained. Any deviation from the experimental protocol will affect the outcome, and the interpretation of results. It may be noted that great discoveries are usually accidental and without a protocol, based merely on careful observation! However, for the sake of a publication, a protocol has to be designed after the discovery. After having described the different phases of the experimental protocol with the help of a schematic diagram e.g., showing variables, time period and interventions, the selection of a statistical method should be discussed. Negative results should not be disregarded because they represent the boundary conditions of positive results. Sometimes the negative results are the real results.

It is usual practice that most PhD candidates start writing the methodological components first. This is followed by writing the results. The pre-requisites for writing results are that all figures, tables, schematic diagrams of methods and a working model should be ready. They should be designed in such a way that the information content of each figure should, when projected as a frame be visually clear to audience viewing it from a distance of about fifty feet. It is often observed that the presenters themselves have difficulty in deciphering a frame of the Power-Point being projected in a conference.

The results of a doctoral thesis should be treated like a bride. The flow of writing results becomes easier if all figures and tables are well prepared. This promotes the train of thoughts required to analyze the data in a quantitative fashion. The golden rule of writing results of a thesis is to describe what the figure shows. No explanation is required. One should avoid writing anything which is not there in a figure. Before writing one should observe each diagram for some time and make a list of observations in the form of key words. The more one has understood the information content of a figure; the better will be the fluency of writing. The interruption of the flow in writing most often indicates that an author has not understood the results. Discussion with colleagues or reference to the literature is the only remedy, and it functions sometimes like a caesarean procedure.

Statistical methods are good devices to test the degree of authenticity and precision of results if appropriately applied. The application of statistical technique in human studies poses difficulties because of large standard deviations. Outliers must be discussed, if they are excluded for the sake of statistical significance. Large standard deviations can be minimized by increasing the number of observations. If a regression analysis is not weighted, it gives faulty information. The correlation coefficient value can change from 0.7 to 0.4 if the regression analysis is weighted using Fisher’s test. The dissection of effect from artifact should be analysed in such a way that the signal to noise ratio of a parameter should be considered. A competent statistician should always be consulted in order to avoid the danger of distortion of results.

The legend of a figure should be well written. It contains a title, a brief description of variables and interventions, the main effect and a concluding remark conveying the original message. The writing of PhD work is further eased by a well maintained collection of data in the form of log book, original recordings, analyzed references with summaries and compiling the virgin data of the study on master plan sheet to understand the original signals before submitting to the procedures of statistics. The original data belong to the laboratory of an institution where it came into being and should be preserved for 5-7 years in the archive for the sake of brevity.

This is the liveliest part of a thesis. Its main goal is to defend the work by staging a constructive debate with the literature. The golden rule of this written debate should be that a rigid explanation looks backward and a design looks forward. The object is to derive a model out of a jig-saw puzzle of information. It should be designed in such a way that the results of the present study and those of authors from the literature can be better discussed and interpreted. Agreement and disagreement can be better resolved if one considers under what experimental conditions the results were obtained by the various authors. It means that the boundary conditions for each result should be carefully analyzed and compared.

The discussion can be divided into the following parts:

• criticism of material/subjects and methods
• a list of important observations of the present study
• interpretation and comparison of results of other authors using a literature table
• design of a model
• claim of an original research work
• The criticism of the methodological procedure enables a candidate to demonstrate how precisely the research work has been carried out. The interpretation of results depends critically on the strict experimental protocol and methods. For example, an epidemiological work is a study of a population. However, if the population sampling is done regularly at a specific location; the question arises as to how a result derived from a localized place can be applied to the whole population.
• After having discussed at length the strong and weak points of material/subjects and methods, one should list in a telegraphic design the most important observations of the present study. This may form a good agenda to initiate interpretation, argument, reasoning and comparison with results of other authors. The outcome of this constructive debate should permit the design of a working model in the form of a block diagram. All statements should be very carefully referenced. The ratio of agreement and disagreement should indicate the ability of the author to reconcile conflicting data in an objective and quantitative way. Attempts should be made to design a solution out of the given quantum of information. It is also well known that most of the processes of human physiology can only be understood if their time course is known. The dynamic aspect of interpretation of results is therefore more powerful and superior to the static one. 16 Therefore a continuous record of variables should be preferred and sought to reveal the secrets hidden in the kinetics.
• Finally, the discussion should conclude how far the study was successful in answering the questions being posed at the end of the introduction part. Usually a doctoral thesis raises more questions than it answers. In this way research does not come to a standstill and does become a life time engagement for a committed scientist. Also it is important to note that all scientific theses should be quantifiable and falsifiable, otherwise they lose the spirit and fragrance of a scientific research.
• The author’s claim of original work is finally decided by the critical review of his research work by the literature and the number of times being cited. It can be easily read by a high rate of a citation index of a publication and invitation. When a methodological research clicks, one becomes a star overnight.

Type-II: CUMULATIVE DOCTORAL THESES

Another way of writing a doctoral work is a cumulative type of thesis. 11 It consists of a few original publications in refereed journals of repute. It is supplemented by a concise summary about the research work. This type of thesis is usually practiced in Sweden, Germany and other countries. It has the advantage of being doubly refereed by the journals and the faculty of health sciences. Additionally, papers are published during a doctoral work. A declaration has to be given to the faculty of science about the sharing of research work in publications, provided there are co-authors. The weightage should be in favour of the PhD candidate, so that the thesis can ethically be better defended before the team of august research faculty.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

A critical review of this manuscript by Dr. Roger Sutton, Dr. Khalid Khan, Dr. Bukhtiar Shah and Dr. Satwat Hashmi is gratefully acknowledged.

Dedicated to the memory of Mr. Azim Kidwai for his exemplary academic commitment and devotion to the science journalism in Pakistan.

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Yale Medicine Thesis Digital Library

Starting with the Yale School of Medicine (YSM) graduating class of 2002, the Cushing/Whitney Medical Library and YSM Office of Student Research have collaborated on the Yale Medicine Thesis Digital Library (YMTDL) project, publishing the digitized full text of medical student theses on the web as a valuable byproduct of Yale student research efforts. The digital thesis deposit has been a graduation requirement since 2006. Starting in 2012, alumni of the Yale School of Medicine were invited to participate in the YMTDL project by granting scanning and hosting permission to the Cushing/Whitney Medical Library, which digitized the Library’s print copy of their thesis or dissertation. A grant from the Arcadia Fund in 2017 provided the means for digitizing over 1,000 additional theses. IF YOU ARE A MEMBER OF THE YALE COMMUNITY AND NEED ACCESS TO A THESIS RESTRICTED TO THE YALE NETWORK, PLEASE MAKE SURE YOUR VPN (VIRTUAL PRIVATE NETWORK) IS ON.

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An Investigation Of Novel Point Of Care 1-Tesla Mri Of Infants’ Brains In The Neonatal Icu , Elisa Rachel Berson

Understanding Perceptions Of New-Onset Type 1 Diabetes Education In A Pediatric Tertiary Care Center , Gabriel BetancurVelez

Effectiveness Of Acitretin For Skin Cancer Prevention In Immunosuppressed And Non-Immunosuppressed Patients , Shaman Bhullar

Adherence To Tumor Board Recommendations In Patients With Hepatocellular Carcinoma , Yueming Cao

Clinical Trials Related To The Spine & Shoulder/elbow: Rates, Predictors, & Reasons For Termination , Dennis Louis Caruana

Improving Delivery Of Immunomodulator Mpla With Biodegradable Nanoparticles , Jungsoo Chang

Sex Differences In Patients With Deep Vein Thrombosis , Shin Mei Chan

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A Single Nucleotide Polymorphism In An Rgs6 Enhancer Regulates Heart Rate Variability And Parasympathetic Modulation , Namita Ravi

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Single-Cell Transcriptomic Atlas Reveals Molecular Drivers Of Human Inner Ear Development , Amar H. Sheth

More Than Meets The Eye: Improving Recognition Of Child Abuse In Emergency Departments , May Shum

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Barriers To Identifying Learning Disabilities: A Qualitative Study Of Clinicians And Educators , Lauren Stone

"Come On. I Need An Answer." A Mixed-Methods Study Of Barriers And Disparities In Diagnostic Odysseys , Zeyu Tang

Cognitive Impairment And Long-Term Health Outcomes In Patients With Coronary Microvascular Dysfunction , Abriana Tasillo

Family Dyads, Emotional Labor, And The Theater Of The Clinical Encounter: Co-Constructive Patient Simulation As A Reflective Tool In Child And Adolescent Psychiatry Training , Isaiah Thomas

Comparative Effectiveness Of Digital Breast Tomosynthesis For Breast Cancer Screening In Older Women , Akhil Upneja

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Recording Multiunit Activity Of The Locus Coeruleus In An Awake Mouse Model Of Focal Limbic Seizures , Marcus Valcarce-Aspegren

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Identification Of A Novel Link Between Adiposity And Visuospatial Ability , Herbert Alexander Chen

Predictors Of Very Late Onset Infection In Kidney Transplant Recipients At Least Ten Years Post Transplant , Harry Cheung

Deep Learning Algorithms For Predicting Response To Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy For Breast Cancer , Rachel Choi

Testing Ictal Conscious Awareness: Responsiveness Versus Recall Of Experiences During Seizures , Violeta Contreras Ramirez

Mechanisms Of Progestin Resistance In Reproductive-Age Women With Atypical Endometrial Hyperplasia , Katherine Mcmaster Cooke

Biomarkers Of Egfr Decline After Pediatric Cardiac Surgery In The Assess-Aki Cohort , Christina Anne-Josiane De Fontnouvelle

Amd3100 Administration For The Treatment Of Asherman’s Syndrome In A Murine Model , Pablo Antonio Delis

Fracture Callus Evaluation In The Setting Of Breast Cancer Metastasis And Rescue Of Healing Via Inhibition Of Erk1/2 , Christopher Dussik

Primary Care Characteristics And Medication Management Among Patients Receiving Office Based Opioid Treatment With Buprenorphine , Xinxin Du

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Investigation Of Outcomes Following Cervical Spine Surgery In Patients With Pre-Existing Non-Spinal Neurological Conditions , Anoop Raj Galivanche

Medical Students’ Experiences, Knowledge, And Perceptions Of Patients With Substance Use Disorder , Sophia Francesca Gamez

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Writing a medical thesis: tips for post-graduate students.

What is a medical thesis?

A medical thesis is the written work resulting from an original research in the field of Medicine, Nursing, Pharmacy, and other health and life sciences. It is submitted by the students in order to obtain a higher degree from the University.

However, keep this in mind! The purpose of submitting a medical thesis is not limited to the achievement of a doctoral or post-graduate degree. It is a medium to organize the scientific knowledge in a way to make further progress in the field.

That’s the reason why the experts in  medical thesis writing  stress on the importance of choosing the right topic for your thesis. You must be able to address a genuine problem or series of problems through your medical thesis. Choose a topic that aligns with your interest and where you can offer a fresh perspective through your research study.

Writing your medical thesis

After choosing the topic for your research study, collaborate with your supervisor to design your research study and its goal. Collect all the information and data pertaining to your research before proceeding with your clinical trials.

Now, you are ready with your research data and clinical findings. You just need to pen down your findings in your medical thesis.

That sounds easy, isn’t it?

In reality, it’s not so. But, you need not worry!  Writing a medical thesis  becomes easy and fun if you follow the given steps with competence:

1.Outline the structure of medical thesis

Prepare an outline of the thesis in accordance with the following sections:

• Introduction: Why did you start your study?
• Methods Used
• Results of the study
• Discussion of results

List the major sections and chapters in each. Do a section at a time. Assemble all the figures and tables and organise them into a logical sequence.

2.Writing a title of the thesis

The title reflects the content of your thesis. For writing a perfect thesis title:

• Be concise and accurate. The title must neither be too long nor too short
• Avoid unnecessary words and phrases like “Observation of” or “A study of”
• Do not use abbreviations
• Avoid grammatical mistakes

3.Writing an Introduction

The purpose of writing an Introduction is to provide the reader with sufficient background information on the topic and help him understand and evaluate the results of the present study, without needing to refer to the previous publications on the topic.

• Give this background information in brief in the first paragraph
• Include the importance of the problem and what is unknown about it in the second paragraph
• State the purpose, hypothesis, and objective of your study in the last paragraph

Cite the research papers written on your research topic

• Include unnecessary information other than the problem being examined
• Include the research design, data or conclusion of your study
• Cite well-known facts
• Include information found in any textbook in the field

4.Writing the section of “Methods Used”

This section must be so written that the reader is able to repeat the study and validate its findings.

Write a detailed exposition about the participants in the study, what materials you used and how you analyzed the results

• Give references but no description for established methods
• Give a brief description and references for published but lesser known methods
• Give detailed description of new methods citing the reasons for using them and any limitations if present
• Include background information and results of the study
• Refer to animals and patients as material
• Use trade name of the drugs; instead, use their generic names
• Use non-technical language for technical statistical terms

5.Writing your Results

Keep in mind the objective of your research while writing the “Results” section. The findings of the research can be documented in the form of:

• Illustrative graphs

Use text to summarize small amounts of data. Do not over-use tables, figures, and graphs in your paper. Moreover, do not repeat information presented in the table or figure in the text format. Text must be a summary or highlight of the information presented in tables or figures.

6.Discussing your Results

Good medical theses have a targeted discussion keeping it focused on the topic of the research. Include:

• Statement of the principal findings. Make it clear to show that your thesis includes new information
• Strengths and weaknesses of your study
• Strengths and weaknesses in relation to the other studies
• A take-home message from your study for clinicians and policymakers
• Any questions that are left unanswered in your study to propose new research

How to conclude your medical thesis?

The conclusion of your research study must comprise of:

• The most important statement or remark from the observations
• Summary of new observations, interpretations, and insights from the present study
• How your study fills the knowledge gap in its respected field?
• The broader implications of your work
• How can your work be improved by future research?

However, avoid any statement that does not support your data.

With these tips, write your thesis like a pro and don’t let it delay your doctoral award!

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What is medicine? Why it’s so important to answer this question

Executive Dean, Faculty of Humanities and Director, African Centre for Epistemology and Philosophy of Science, University of Johannesburg

Disclosure statement

Alex Broadbent receives funding from the National Research Foundation of South Africa.

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What is medicine? We recognise it in all societies past and present. But the nature of medicine differs so greatly from place to place and time to time that it’s difficult to offer a single answer. So what is it that we see in common between a traditional healer’s throwing of bones and the cardiologist’s incisions?

One of the answers that often seems to be implicit in what we say and think about medicine is a curative thesis : medicine’s goal is to cure the sick. Curing the sick is the core medical competence, whose exercise is medicine’s core business.

But if the curative thesis is true, then most medicine throughout history – as well as much contemporary medicine – isn’t medicine at all. Much medicine was and is ineffective, or at best partially effective. The curative thesis leads to a dismissive attitude towards the past efforts upon which any current medicine is built, as well as failing to promote profitable collaboration between traditions.

A second idea is an inquiry thesis about medicine: although the goal of medicine is to cure, its core business is something quite different. It’s this thesis I explore in my latest article .

That “something” has to do with inquiring into the nature and causes of health and disease. The idea is that we don’t necessarily expect someone to be able to cure us. We will accept that they are a medical expert if they can show an understanding of our ailment, often by issuing an accurate prognosis. Perhaps they won’t have a complete understanding, but they should somehow be engaged with the larger project of inquiry into the nature and causes of health and disease.

The inquiry thesis offers a way to understand the history of medicine that makes it more than a tale of quackery and gullibility. It also provides a way to understand medical traditions that practised outside the West, or in the West in defiance of the mainstream. They may offer or at least engage with a project of obtaining; a kind of understanding that Western medicine cannot.

The inquiry model of medicine lays the ground for fruitful and respectful discussions between medical traditions that doesn’t descend into an untenable relativism about what works.

Towards understanding

The curative thesis faces a difficulty that I believe it cannot overcome.

We do not define an activity by its goal alone, unless it has at least some success in that respect. A blacksmith cannot be defined as one who makes horseshoes if he simply throws lumps of hot metal onto his anvil and hammers them randomly – occasionally producing something horseshoe-like, but more often producing a mess.

Yet, taking a historical perspective, something of this kind has been true of medicine for much of its history, before it developed a serious curative arsenal. Historian of medicine Roy Porter has remarked that

the prominence of medicine has lain only in small measure in its ability to make the sick well. This was always true, and remains so today.

What, then, could be the business of medicine – the thing in which we recognise expertise, even when we accept that there is no cure to be had?

This is where the inquiry model enters the picture. I propose that the business of medicine is understanding the nature and causes of health and disease, for the purpose of cure.

The core of the argument is simple: what could medical persons be good at doing, that relates to the goal of cure without achieving it? The most likely candidate is understanding. Understanding is something that we can gain without corresponding curative success.

Tackling objections

As with the curative thesis, there are several objections to the inquiry model. First, it is obvious that many doctors either don’t (fully) understand what they treat or, if they do, don’t (successfully) communicate this understanding to the patient. Who, then, understands? In what sense is the doctor’s competence understanding?

The answer is that understanding isn’t a binary. You can partially understand something. You can be one the road to understanding it better, by inquiring into it. Hence the inquiry model of medicine. The idea is not that medicine is a sack full of answers, but rather that it is an ongoing effort to find answers.

Another objection is that so-called understanding is often bogus, and that medicine is as unsuccessful in this regard as in cure. This fails to account for the historical record, which – at least for Western medicine –- is precisely a case of understanding without curative success.

And, just as false scientific theories have contributed to developing scientific understanding , so false medical theories have provided a foundation for what we now accept.

Medicine is an ancient and complex social phenomenon, variously seen as art, science and witchcraft. These visions share the goal of curing disease. But it is too crude to think medicine as only the business of curing, since in that case, few doctors would be in business.

The distinctive feature of medicine is that it tries to cure by obtaining some understanding of the nature and causes of health and disease: by inquiry, in short. This understanding of medicine permits a much healthier dialogue between proponents of different traditions, and enables a non-defensive perspective on areas where we remain sadly lacking in curative ability.

This is an edited, shortened version of an article that first appeared in the Canadian Medical Association Journal, ‘The inquiry model of medicine’ , accompanied by a podcast available on the article’s page and also here .

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