On aphorisms and the maintenance of biomedicine

摘要

At the outset of their article, Levine and Bleakley1 define aphorisms as succinct sayings that offer advice. Aphorisms are pithy and poetic, capable of transmitting information across medical generations in the time-compressed environments of allopathic training. In their synthesis, the authors distil the roles of aphorisms in medicine into five categories: as memory aides for medical information; as agents capable of effecting increased narrative sensibility; as supporters of clinical judgement; as reinforcements of professional behaviour; and as sites for professional identity construction.