2009-The Physician of the Future English and Catalan

F UNDACIÓN E DUCACIÓN M ÉDICA (FEM) 56 2.2. A physician who adopts a critical approach $ephysicianhas tobeable toperformhis trade inscenarioscharacterised by a great deal of ambiguity, indeterminism and uncertainty. Physicians ought to be able to incorporate in their practice relevant scienti"c novelties and keep up to date with advances in the digital world to avoid obsolescence. Nevertheless, they should not fall into “ scienti!sm” but should mantain the critical attitude of the scienti"c method, remaining open to self-evaluation and bearing in mind Wittgenstein’s statement:” even when all scienti!c questions have been answered , our fundamental questions have not yet been dealt with”. Indeed, the scienti"c approach is able to solve problems related to nature, but falls short in solving many of the complaints related to life, su'ering and death a)icting patients. According to Erich Fromm, “ the more we delve into the deep of our own or another’s existence, the more we distance ourselves from total knowledge”. Hence, the role of the physician is to help patients rather then constructing a rational discourse of their diseases. In addition to being able to negotiate in real scenarios, the physician we want must also know, above all, how to conduct himself in the world of values, which soak up, explicitly or implicitly, what patients express, giving meaning to their life and illness.