| About |
"…to know and
understand...is a dimension of being scientific… The Ephemeris Project is a Medical Education Portal where health professionals, students*, and patients can learn and think about the human dimension of healthcare. In an age of advanced medical technologies, the Ephemeris Project promotes and provides a venue of mindfulness, introspection and self-expression among healthcare professionals, professional students and patients helping each to participate-i.e. give and receive- effective, compassionate and safe care. Today’s healthcare professional students must learn to balance the science of biomedical research and advanced medical technologies with the ethical implications and effects of such science on the patient and in particular on the physician-patient relationship. The implementation of tomorrow’s technologies require healthcare professionals to have an ethic-centered view of these technologies, cognizant of their science yet imbued with an appreciation of the enormous humanistic value inherent at their core. This is a most promising time to become a health care professional - and patient -for we have in our immediate future enormous promise in human genomics, cancer therapies and other capabilities of advanced medical technologies. Yet, we must assure that the benefits of these technologies are fully realized and that their expanding sphere of influence does not disenfranchise the patient nor depersonalize the physician-patient relationship. The inclusion and assimilation of art, literature, poetry, bioethics, law, thanatology, theology and at its core, humanism, into the education of medical professionals should help them appreciate that their life’s work is truly one of privileged human relationships. Thinking -being mindful- about our feelings as a professional caring for a patient in a clinical setting is of great importantance and elevates our role as Healthcare Professionals. It is a privilege to be a Doctor ( or other Health Professional ) and to care for patients and be in their intimate lives as human beings. We can listen to their stories and take care of their illnesses in a way that no other profession can. By becoming more introspective and more emotionally involved in what we are doing, our compassion will become evident and patients will benefit. Technology provides better diagnostic and therapeutic medical care, but as more technology is developed and utilized, Heath Professionals may become more reliant on that technology and less on their interpersonal skills. They will have to learn the traditional art of medicine, of listening and talking to patients, holding their hands, being at their bed side, while complementing the use of modern technology and advanced science. This is the reason for the Ephemeris Project. *Health professionals and health professional students include those in Medicine, Nursing, Physician Assistant and all Allied Health Professions |