Richard Colgan, MD

Patients want their health care providers to be polite and civil as well as competent.

Having determined to go to Africa as a medical missionary rather than as a pastor, Schweitzer began the study of medicine at the University of Strasbourg in 1905.

Tips on how to practice etiquette-based medicine, as advanced by Michael W. Kahn, MD,are presented here in the first part of this guest commentary.

An excellent read on the life of Sir William Osler can be found in Charles S Bryan’s Osler: Inspirations from a Great Physician.1 Here are some important take-home messages:

Many physicians I know seem to wear their lack of routine health care as a badge of honor. It is quite the contrary.

Canadian medical educator Sir William Osler (1849-1919) is, in my opinion, one of the most influential English-speaking physicians in the history of Western medicine.

The door was open to the exam room and inside I saw a 6 ft 2 in tall white man pacing back and forth.

Searching for the poetry of life is not just another checkbox—after documenting vital signs and recording the review of systems—to be completed after each patient visit.

<p><img alt="florence nightingale" height="90" src="/sites/default/files/1301Con_GCColgan_FNPic.jpg" style="float:left" title="florence...