Mellinkoff S M
Johns Hopkins Med J. 1977 Sep;141(3):167-9.
Medicine and medical education have always faced the uncomfortable necessity of making decisions on the basis of incomplete information. In recent years far more intense social pressures have been added. Some of these are technical and theoretically can be solved logically, for example, equitable financing of medical care and education. However, some of the pressures have their roots in a more general malaise, the loss of philosophical faith and trust in our institutions. The task of the medical educator is to encourage rational changes, but to resist irrational ones. Medicine at its best is in itself for those in this and related professions, at least, a partial response to the abiding human need to feel fulfillment in an altruistic cause.
医学及医学教育一直面临着基于不完整信息做出决策这种令人不安的必要性。近年来，又增加了更为强烈的社会压力。其中一些压力是技术性的，理论上可以通过逻辑方式解决，例如医疗保健和教育的公平融资。然而，有些压力源于一种更普遍的不适，即对我们的机构失去了哲学信仰和信任。医学教育工作者的任务是鼓励合理的变革，但抵制不合理的变革。至少对于从事这个及相关职业的人来说，医学本身在最佳状态下，是对人类在利他事业中获得成就感这一持久需求的一种部分回应。
