Osler Symposium: Doctoring in the 21st century

Thomas Moore participates in the 2nd Osler Symposium: Doctoring in the 21st Century in San Diego, California from Saturday 20 October to Tuesday 23 October, 2012 at the Catamaran Hotel. The 2012 Osler Symposium brochure includes schedules, activities and a registration form for this event designed for physicians and open to all healthcare professionals. Early bird pricing applies until 31 May 2012.

Thomas Moore's Schedule: Tuesday 23 October 2012

Time	Event
9:45 a.m. - 10:30 a.m.	Care of a Doctor's Soul
12:15 p.m. - 12:45 p.m.	Going Forward: Panel Participant
3:00 p.m. - 4:15 p.m. 4:15 p.m. - 5:30 p.m.	Breakout Sessions:  The Doctor as Spiritual Guide

The Doctor as Spiritual Guide – Thomas Moore
"In the ordinary Western mindset, a doctor takes care of the body and others tend to the psyche and spirit. But you can’t split a person into parts that way. A patient’s spirituality is always implicated in illness, maybe more so there than in other parts of life. Patients often look to the doctor for spiritual guidance, correctly understanding that you really can’t tend a human being’s suffering and leave out the spirit. A doctor may think that the spiritual is not within his purview or that she isn’t qualified to address it. In this session, doctors will be encouraged to find it in themselves to speak to spiritual concerns of patients at least in a small way, and guidance will be offered to help doctors prepare themselves for this aspect. Thomas Moore will call to mind physicians in other cultures who are necessarily spiritual guides, too. Besides, if a doctor were to speak to the spirit and soul as well as the body, the doctor would have a much richer experience and would be less likely to suffer a setback in morale. In other words, it would be good for patients and doctors. This session is meant to inspire and educate doctors in this exciting area of medicine."

Moore was a keynote speaker at the Inaugural Osler Symposium held 14 May to 20 May 2011 in Albuquerque, New Mexico.