The Essentials of Studying Medicine: First Know Disease, Then Know Drugs

The essentials of studying medicine are, first, to know disease, and second, to know drugs; these two are of paramount importance. Therefore, to study medicine one must first learn pathology and the properties of drugs. The kinds of disease are countless; the same disease has many different symptoms, and the same symptom may be shared by many diseases; without broad learning one cannot clearly distinguish them. Apart from surgery, the main means of treating disease still relies on drugs; only by being familiar with pharmacology and drug properties can one deal with disease with skill and ease.

Studying medicine requires broad and deep learning; there is no other shortcut. Medical level can only be built up over time; by reading medical literature from time to time one continually improves one's insight. More clinical practice raises one's ability to treat disease. Without reading, clinical skill is hard to improve; without clinical practice, what one has read is not easily digested and absorbed.

One must study medicine without sectarian prejudice. A Western physician who despises TCM, or a TCM physician who despises Western medicine, is not a good doctor. Anyone who aspires to medicine should, as far as possible, integrate Chinese and Western medicine. All medical techniques have great limitations; against major disease, all of humanity's medical skills combined are still not enough. Doctors have no reason whatsoever to be arrogant. Medical uncertainty is high; few doctors achieve a clinical efficacy above 60%, and most have only 30–40% efficacy. That is, of ten patients seeing the same doctor, generally only three or four are lucky enough to get correct treatment; the rest may receive wrong treatment. This reality dictates that doctors should be modest and eager to learn, constantly broaden their horizons and improve their clinical results.

Works on pathology and works on pharmacology should always be kept at one's bedside, read day and night; whenever something is gained, record it as far as possible. The accumulation of medical knowledge relies on bit by bit accumulation of these fragments. Only by accumulating the many from the few can one become broadly experienced; and only by being broadly experienced can clinical efficacy improve.