The Case for Bedside Rounds

William Osler was well aware that the patient's bedside was the chief arena of medical education. He told us that there should be "no teaching without a patient for a text, and the best teaching is that taught by the patient himself." 1 Henry Christian left no doubt about Dr. Osler's methods:He would go to a patient's bed, stand (or sometimes sit in a chair), near the head of the bed at the patient's right side, give him a cheery greeting and, if he were a new patient, ask for his history which would then be given by the student . . .