I've had a fascination with the concept of wisdom for many years.
It all started with the idea to read the book of Proverbs daily for a year. 31 Chapters. One each day of the month. I succeeded and celebrated by getting a tattoo of the Chinese symbols for wisdom. Not sure how wise that was...the tattoo probably says "stupid American" or something similar.
I have come to realize that the smartest I'll ever be was when I was 18. I knew everything. Now, as I gain a little wisdom, I've found that the more I know, the more I don't know.
I chose my company's first core value to be wisdom to point our compass toward making good choices. We all must make a multitude of choices every day. Every hour. Sometimes moment to moment. Knowledge is not enough. We must temper our knowledge with experience. We must be on a never-ending quest to gain understanding. Evidence-based practice has three legs: 1) the best available research evidence, 2) clinical judgement and experience, 3) and client preferences and values. Wisdom helps us balance these three components to make the best possible choices to help our patients.
“Wisdom: The act of applying valued truths to any given situation and to life in general.”
-Steven K. Scott
Wisdom-HouseCalls Physiotherapy values the ability to coordinate knowledge and experience. We must be able to deal with often contradictory interests—our own, the patient’s, the patient’s family, the payer’s, and the referral source’s. Balancing these intrapersonal and interpersonal interests requires wisdom.
Chris Schoolfield, PT, DPT, GCS
HouseCalls Physiotherapy
Jonesboro, Arkansas