Dr Jim Bertouch received the prestigious “Service award” at this year’s Australian Rheumatology Association Conference, and he was able to enlighten us about this particular topic.
Prescribing the correct dose of a drug is certainly science.
Knowing what manual therapy technique to apply to an injury is a science.
Knowing which muscles work to produce certain movements is also a science.
On the other hand, being able to motivate your patient to perform your prescribed exercises is an art.
Being able to clearly explain a prognosis and subsequent plan is an art.
Knowing what sort of management would be most suited to each patient is an art.
Dr Bertouch concluded by saying, as he gets more experienced "he is getting better at the art and worse with the science"
What do you think? Do you think it's more important to practice more art or science?