Classic clinical descriptions of disease: curing medical education with a dose of the past

Abstract

The importance of clinical skills, including obtaining patient history and performing physical examination, has been de-emphasized in the modern medical school curriculum. With advancements in diagnostic technologies, the clinical presentation of diseases in medical textbooks has been simplified, diminished, and largely replaced with detailed pathophysiology and laboratory findings. The implementation of the United States Medical Licensing Exam (USMLE) Step 1 has also contributed in pushing medical education toward classroom-based learning rather than emphasizing clinical experience. Clinical skills competency is crucial to accurately diagnose patients and simultaneously lowers health care costs by not relying on unneeded diagnostic tests. To address this gap in medical knowledge, a group of students at Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, Lubbock, Texas, have created a website documenting classic clinical disease descriptions written by some of the renowned physicians from the 19th and 20th centuries, including Osler, Flint, Gowers, etc. This website will continue to grow and will be a useful tool for professors, physicians, and medical students.