17.8 Medical science must be holistic and integrated

Medicine needs to draw upon the very best of science, clinical experience, wisdom, intuition, New Magna Carta Mediumjudgement and care. This requires us to step up a gear in our understanding and application of science, moving beyond simple physical reductionism. It requires learning learn how to apply science to complex phenomena, living systems, human consciousness, human behaviour and life itself. It is totally unscientific to dismiss such phenomena as if they were not accessible to science. We must be more creative. Evidence-based medicine must incorporate clinical experience, judgement, care, healing, intuition, wisdom into its recommendations for good clinical practice. We should fund research into nonphysical, holistic, social, spiritual, psychological factors in health and well-being.