Two Doctors Walk Along a River
Today Katherine Treadway, one of the teachers at Introduction to the Profession, told a nice parable about two doctors walking along the Charles River, Boston's main body of water.
They're walking along chatting about their work when all of a sudden a man drifts by in the middle of the river, screaming for help. The doctors immediately spring into action, one doctor standing by the bank for support while the other dives into the river. He pulls the man, swims to shore, and they both climb out soaking wet.
The two doctors continue their stroll when a woman drifts by in the river again, just screaming for dear life. The doctors rush again, and they save the woman from drowning.
They walk further down the river until another man comes down the streaming river, at risk of drowning. One doctor immediately dives in, but this time the other doctor runs away up the river, inexplicably. The swimming doctor manages to save the man, and he waits by the side of the river for his friend to return.
When he does, the wet doctor asks, "Why in the world did you run away when I was trying to save him?"
The other doctor says, "I went upstream trying to see why so many people were falling in the river!"
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This is a cute story, but it also illustrates the multiple roles physicians can have in society. They can serve on the frontlines treating patients with what we currently know, or they can research the unknown about why diseases happen. Both are absolutely essential roles in medicine.
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