| American biomedicine is a hegemonic, capital-intensive, hierarchical system of healthcare delivery, the epistemology of which is beholden to historical influences that can be traced back to the medical traditions of Europe, specifically Germany, England and France. Borrowing heavily from these traditions, American biomedicine did not come into its own until the beginning of the 20th century with the development of a standardized model for medical education in the form of the Johns Hopkins Medical School. Hopkins' most influential faculty member was Sir William Osler, the quintessential physician, personifying---if only in the minds of his followers---all the qualities that the ideal practitioner of the art and science of medicine should possess. Upon the acceptance and proliferation of the Hopkins model of medical education---primarily through the efforts of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching---American biomedicine began its rise to prominence in the global medical community.;As technological advancement increased, America's scientific and medical reputation followed, placing the United States in a position of intellectual and epistemological leadership. Technology's advantages were not, however, without their own set of challenges, many brought about by technology itself. As a result, biomedicine's humanistic side---the art of medicine---is in danger of being subsumed by a professional worldview that is deeply committed to the scientific understanding of humankind, potentially losing its focus on the patient-as-person that Osler so frequently stressed. The iPad, the iconic symbol of technology, created to ease the burdens of humankind, along with countless technological wonders to which biomedicine owes its meteoric rise, has supplanted the image of Sir William Osler, transforming biomedicine into pure, scientific technocracy. Osler and the iPad can and should coexist. This dissertation will discuss why and how. |
