Companion in the Spotlight

Developing Clinical Intuition

A Philosophy of Science for Medical Practice

 

Maurits in 't Veld, PhD

Majella van Maaren, MD

 

In medical practice today, the patient’s context and related clinical intuition are regaining importance. As a younger colleague observing an experienced physician or therapist at work in medical practice, you may quickly find yourself asking: How do I acquire the clinical intuition they seem to naturally have?

 

Well, it turns out that clinical intuition can be learned. Through observation exercises and targeted questions, we can develop intuition much more quickly—to help us identify the next therapeutic step for the patient.

​

The 4-step approach
To date, the Bolk’s Companions series has covered many medical topics. In each volume, these topics are first described analytically, as is customary in mainstream science, and then explored further using a method based on Goethean phenomenology. This approach, the 4-step approach, makes the coherence of the facts visible again, after it having been obscured by the analysis.

In the Companion Toward Clinical Intuition (GVO 18 and 19), philosopher Maurits in ’t Veld and physician Majella van Maaren explicitly discuss the 4-step approach and the associated development of clinical intuition, while simultaneously providing a philosophical foundation for it. They also describe how the 4-step approach is embedded within the context of “presence.” Medical topics are discussed, but rather as case studies—as examples of how the 4-step approach can be applied in practice.

​

Read more

​