Holism, Homeostasis and Harmony

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Richard Rawlins

Abstract

In May 2010, the British Medical Association's Junior Doctor Committee called for an end to training attachments at Glasgow Homoeopathic Hospital. Within a week, the local health board announced that the training programme at the hospital would be scrapped. Anna McCurley, a former MP and friend of the hospital said: "I would be deeply disappointed if junior doctors did not get training in the holistic approach at some point - it gives patients such confidence" [1]. This ignored the fact that the junior doctors’ regular and conventional training does indeed include the principles of "holism”. Which begs the question as to the meaning of "holism”.

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