Imperative 7
To be knowledgeable.
There is so much I don’t know that if I had a lick of sense, I would use my medical diploma to line my kitchen cabinets. The single greatest sin I can commit as a physician is to know not and know not that I know not. To be knowledgeable, I have to be prepared to say “I don’t know.” I must then ask myself, “Do I not know because I’ve never encountered this problem?” If so, I must embark on a course of education. If I don’t know and I should know–I must be humble enough and professional enough to immediately seek a remedy for my deficiency, including calling in a consultant to help. I make a commitment to learn. Working with the dying, we must be prepared to question everything. We think we know–but do we know for a fact? Much of the current chaos swirling around the treatment of the seriously ill has as its core myths, half-truths, and downright lies.
from Dr. Walter Hunter’s 12 Imperatives for Working with the Dying