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OtherReflections

Suffering, Meaning, and Healing: Challenges of Contemporary Medicine

Thomas R. Egnew
The Annals of Family Medicine March 2009, 7 (2) 170-175; DOI: https://doi.org/10.1370/afm.943
Thomas R. Egnew
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    Suffering, Meaning, and Healing: Challenges of Contemporary Medicine

    Thomas R. Egnew

    Background As a result of changes in contemporary society, doctors are expected to both cure disease and help patients transcend suffering: to be physician-healers. Physician-healers use the power of the doctor-patient relationship to help patients reconnect to the world beyond illness, find meaning in their illness experience, particularly through their own stories, and cope with the impersonality of technology. A health care delivery system focused on holistic healing would promote accessible, ongoing care; home visits; equitable reimbursement for clinicians to spend time with (rather than doing things to) patients; and equal funding for mental health issues. In addition to better serving the chronically ill, developing the role of physician-healer may help stem the tide of physician burnout and restore a sense of awe and mystery to medicine by reinstating the personal power of the physician as a therapeutic agent.

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The Annals of Family Medicine: 7 (2)
The Annals of Family Medicine: 7 (2)
Vol. 7, Issue 2
1 Mar 2009
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Suffering, Meaning, and Healing: Challenges of Contemporary Medicine
Thomas R. Egnew
The Annals of Family Medicine Mar 2009, 7 (2) 170-175; DOI: 10.1370/afm.943

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Suffering, Meaning, and Healing: Challenges of Contemporary Medicine
Thomas R. Egnew
The Annals of Family Medicine Mar 2009, 7 (2) 170-175; DOI: 10.1370/afm.943
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  • Article
    • Abstract
    • SUFFERING, MEANING & HEALING
    • TRANSCENDING SUFFERING
    • HEALING CONNECTIONS
    • HEALING AND NARRATIVE
    • BACK TO THE FUTURE
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Cited By...

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  • Cultivating the Inner Life of a Physician Through Written Reflection
  • Global Family Medicine: A 'UNIVERSAL Mnemonic
  • 'Workshops in healing' for senior medical students: a 5-year overview and appraisal
  • Fictional father?: Oliver Sacks and the revalidation of pathography
  • Annals Journal Club: A Patient-Physician Journey
  • In This Issue: Personalizing Health Care
  • Primary Care Practice Development: A Relationship-Centered Approach
  • Power to Advocate for Health
  • Receptor Sites for the Primary Care Function: Reaction to the Paper by Karen Davis, PhD, and Kristof Stremikis, MPP
  • Ways of Knowing, Learning, and Developing
  • A Science of Connectedness
  • A Way Forward for Health Care and Healers
  • In This Issue: Practice, Research, and Reflection
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More in this TOC Section

  • Do I Return to the Community That Traumatized Me?
  • The Joy and Grief of Knowing Your Patient
  • The Face of God Revealed
Show more Reflections

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