ETHICS FEATURE
Lisa Cosgrove, PhD; Allen F. Shaughnessy, PharmD, MMedEd
Corresponding Author: Allen F. Shaughnessy, PharmD, MMedEd; Department of Family Medicine - Tufts University School of Medicine
Email: allen.shaughnessy@tufts.edu
DOI: 10.3122/jabfm.2023.230034R1
Keywords: Clinical Decision-Making, Evidence-Based Medicine, Judgment, Knowledge Translation, Physicians, Uncertainty
Dates: Submitted: 01-30-2023; Revised: 03-08-2023; Accepted: 03-13-2023
FINAL PUBLICATION: |HTML| |PDF|
There has been much discussion about the overmedicalization of human experience and the problems incurred by overzealous action-oriented medical care. In this paper we describe the Aristotelean virtue of phronesis, or practical wisdom, and discuss how it can be developed by interested clinicians. We argue that becoming a phronimos requires conscious attention to one’s practice by using feedback to continually improve. But there must also be judicious adherence to clinical practice guidelines and advocacy for people-as-patients at individual, community, and national levels.