Tout est poison, rien n'est poison, tout est une question de dose. Everything is poisonous, nothing is poisonous, it is all a matter of dose.
Claude BernardRead
When a physician is called to a patient, he should decide on the diagnosis, then the prognosis, and then the treatment. ... Physicians must know the evolution of the disease, its duration and gravity in order to predict its course and outcome. Here statistics intervene to guide physicians, by teaching them the proportion of mortal cases, and if observation has also shown that the successful and unsuccessful cases can be recognized by certain signs, then the prognosis is more certain.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Physicians must understand the disease and use statistical evidence to make accurate diagnoses and prognoses.
This quote by Claude Bernard emphasizes the essential steps a physician takes when addressing a patient's health concerns. It underlines the importance of accurately diagnosing an illness, understanding its progression, and implementing appropriate treatment based on statistical outcomes. Bernard stresses that knowledge of a disease’s evolution and the associated data can greatly enhance a physician's ability to predict how a patient may respond to treatment, thus ensuring more effective medical practice.
Themes
PhysicianDiagnosisPrognosisTreatmentStatisticsDiseaseHealth
In practice
Example use cases
This quote could be shared in a medical conference to emphasize the importance of a systematic approach in patient care.
More from Claude Bernard
All quotes →The goal of scientific physicians in their own science ... is to reduce the indeterminate. Statistics therefore apply only to cases in which the cause of the facts observed is still indeterminate.
Claude BernardRead
Theories are like a stairway; by climbing, science widens its horizon more and more, because theories embody and necessarily include proportionately more facts as they advance.
Claude BernardRead
True science teaches us to doubt and, in ignorance, to refrain.
Claude BernardRead
Now, a living organism is nothing but a wonderful machine endowed with the most marvellous properties and set going by means of the most complex and delicate mechanism.
Claude BernardRead
The experimenter who does not know what he is looking for will not understand what he finds.
Claude BernardRead
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