Putting wisdom into action

Putting wisdom into action is not always easy, but in "Practical Wisdom," authors Schwartz and Sharp believe it is possible.

"One kind of person we describe as a ‘canny outlaw,'" Schwartiz explains. "This is a person who is operating in a system that discourages wisdom, like a teacher who has to follow a script, but finds ways around the rules. There are plenty of such people around, but they’re swimming against the current. They don’t get support. In fact they may even lose their jobs if they are caught. More hopeful are whole institutions that appreciate the need to cultivate wisdom in practitioners. We describe in detail an example of a medical training program, a relatively new one at Harvard University."

Dr. David Hirsh is the program’s co-founder and director.

"In 2003, that was when we began what’s now called the Harvard Medical School-Cambridge Integrated Clerkship," says Hirsh. "The entire reason to take on this rather large innovation was to do something meaningful to change the way that medical doctors were trained, and part of that deeply involves the idea of humanism - their personal development or moral development."

The clerkship allows third-year medical students - who have learned the rules and regulations of their profession - to spend one day a week working with patients in a clinic. Unlike other programs, these young doctors then follow their patients for a whole year under the watchful eye of an experienced physician.