Wall L L
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Louisiana State University Medical Center, New Orleans, USA.
Obstet Gynecol. 1996 Oct;88(4 Pt 1):633-7. doi: 10.1016/0029-7844(96)00177-9.
The term "ritual" is used in medicine primarily in a negative way. In a surgical context, it is usually used to refer to slavish, unthinking devotion to technique or method, or to unnecessary surgical procedures that have outlived their usefulness. But there is another aspect of ritual that has received far too little attention from medical writers: ritual in its anthropologic sense as a form of stylized behavior that serves as a vehicle for the transmission of meaning. Because a surgical operation is a structured process that takes place within a given social context, it can be analyzed as a "rite of passage" that helps move the patient from "illness" to "health." Understanding the ritual aspects of surgical operations can help deepen the doctor-patient relationship and improve the quality of care given to surgical patients.
“仪式”一词在医学领域主要以负面方式被使用。在外科手术的语境中，它通常指盲目、不假思索地执着于技术或方法，或者指已无用处却仍在进行的不必要的外科手术。但仪式还有一个方面，医学著作者对此关注极少：从人类学意义上讲，仪式是一种程式化行为的形式，是传递意义的载体。由于外科手术是在特定社会背景下发生的结构化过程，它可以被分析为一种“过渡仪式”，有助于将患者从“疾病”状态转变为“健康”状态。理解外科手术的仪式层面有助于深化医患关系，提高对外科手术患者的护理质量。
