Why do doctors love Sherlock Holmes so much? In this episode, we’ll explore this endearing, nerdy obsession with the good detective, from Holmes’ medical origins and influences, the parallels with medical reasoning, and how the Holmes stories still influence medicine to this day. Plus a new #AdamAnswers about the origin of the white coat. All this and more in Episode 35 of Bedside Rounds, a tiny podcast about fascinating stories in clinical medicine!

Sources:

• Blumhagen DW, “The Doctor’s White Coat,” Annals of Internal Medicine, Vol 91, No. 1, July 1979.
• Conan Doyle A, “The Adventure of the Speckled Band,”  retrieved from https://sherlock-holm.es/stories/pdf/a4/1-sided/spec.pdf
• Hochberg MS, “The Doctor’s White Coat -- an Historical Perspective,” Virtual Mentor. April 2007, Volume 9, Number 4: 310-314.
• Levine D, Revalidating Sherlock Holmes for a role in medical education.Clin Med April 1, 2012 vol. 12
• McDaniels, AK, “In change in tradition, Johns Hopkins interns will no longer wear short white coats,” Baltimore Sun, retrieved from http://www.baltimoresun.com/health/bs-hs-short-white-coat-20180328-story.html
• Oderwald AK, Sebus JH. The physician and Sherlock Holmes. Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine 1991;84:151–2.
• Perry S, “It takes a medical Sherlock Holmes to solve complex neurological mysteries,” MinnPost, retrieved from https://www.minnpost.com/second-opinion/2013/09/it-takes-medical-sherlock-holmes-solve-complex-neurological-mysteries
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• Whitaker P, “Had Sherlock Holmes gone into medicine, he’d have been a dermatologist,” New Statesman, retrieved from https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/health/2018/03/had-sherlock-holmes-gone-medicine-he-d-have-been-dermatologist