Superstition may not directly save lives, but it often saves conversations. It gives silent language to the certainty of uncertainty, to the limits of the illimitable immune system and to humanistic care predicated upon scientific evidence. In rheumatology and immunology, where “nobody really knows for certain but we’re working on it” appears to be our collective motto, such gestures are reminders that clinicians aren’t alone in struggling to organize the world. It so happens that our patients are doing the same, with their own, distinct myths. By acknowledging and harmonizing these myths, rituals and superstitions, we can build therapeutic relationships and collaboratively advance rheumatology (knock on wood).
Bharat Kumar, MD, MME, FACP, FAAAAI, RhMSUS, is the director of the rheumatology fellowship training program at the University of Iowa, Iowa City, and the physician editor of The Rheumatologist. Follow him on X (formerly Twitter) @BharatKumarMD.
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