Did medical curiosity kill the cat?

Abstract

This article was migrated. The article was marked as recommended. Curiosity is the urge to explore, understand, and discover anything new. Curious doctors act as 'frontier workers' between the humanities and natural sciences. In their efforts towards trying to "understand" both their patients and their complaints, they function as detectives searching for every seemingly unimportant detail in their constant endeavor of solving the mysterious medical puzzle of illness and providing their ailed patients with adequate help. The curiosity to discover my patients' character, to learn their hopes and desires, to explore their past and current social environment is a crucial part of the manifold studied foundation of what is termed medical empathy. Therefore, nurturing curiosity during the course of medical training should be highly desirable. That said, it seems all the more regrettable that medical education often suppresses the development of curiosity rather than nurtures it, often overemphasizing verifiable facts rather than stimulating more complex thought and reflection processes. The importance of medical curiosity, previously neglected as a potent effect and success factor in the medical-therapeutic setting, should no longer be misunderstood or denied its role. We, as physicians and lecturers, have the power to ignite our students' medical curiosity, if we manage to transmit the "spark". This Personal View by a German MD is intended as a passionate plea for more curiosity in medical education.