Aequanimitas

Aequanimitas
Aequanimitas with Other Addresses to Medical Students, Nurses and Practitioners of Medicine, 1914.
AuthorSir William Osler
LanguageEnglish
Publisher
  • P. Blakiston's Son & Co. (Philadelphia)
  • H. K. Lewis (London)
Publication date
1st 1889

Aequanimitas was one of Sir William Osler's most famous essays, delivered to new doctors in 1889 as his farewell address at the Pennsylvania School of Medicine, prior to his transfer to Johns Hopkins. It was published in the same year and in 1904 appeared in his collection of essays titled Aequanimitas with Other Addresses to Medical Students, Nurses and Practitioners of Medicine. A second edition was produced in 1906, and a third in 1932. In the essay, Osler advocates two qualities "imperturbability" and "equanimity", which he defined as "coolness and presence of mind under all circumstances".[1]

Between 1932 and 1953, Eli Lilly & Company distributed more than 150,000 copies of the third edition to medical graduates.

Through the years Osler's ideal of "Aequanimitas" has been analysed by various academics. Daniel Sokol, medical ethics and law expert, reasons in the British Medical Journal in 2007, that whatever interpretation is made of Aequanimitas, it "tackles head-on a timeless question: what makes a good doctor?".[2][3]

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference Rodin1994 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference Bryan2020 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference Sokol was invoked but never defined (see the help page).