Hippocrates’ Dream. What has Hippocratic Revolution Left in Modern Medicine

Abstract

The practice of Medicine since its origins has evolved going to meet many changes; to go back to history and to follow this evolution you have the feeling of being “tourists in search of a certain mysterious charm of the past that helps us to achieve the future” [1]. But also fascinated in looking for all those elements that help us to understand the changes and to guide us in correcting the errors of the present. “Describing the past, understanding the present, predicting the future: this is the task of medicine”[2]. There are still many Hippocratic principles that remain cornerstones of Modern Medicine, written in the Hippocratic Oath, either in its ancient [3] or in its modern version [4], on which the new graduates in Medicine and Surgery swear at the time of graduation. Today, Medicine is at a very high level of evolution (knowledge of diseases, technological development, knowledge of new therapeutic interventions, etc.) with an awesome improvement in diagnostic and therapeutical procedures as well as in the field of training, planning, management and implementation; nevertheless, it remains quite complex and for this, with difficult interpretations, inappropriateness’s, possible human errors that sometimes are unpredictable.