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Resources for Recovery
Published in Sandra Rasmussen, Developing Competencies for Recovery, 2023
The Caduceus, the staff of the Greek god of healing, has been adopted as a symbol by the medical profession. Caduceus groups are 12-step like mutual support groups for health care professionals. Attendance at a Caduceus meeting is often required by monitoring programs for health professionals. Since it is a specialty group, a Caduceus meeting is not advertised in the AA or NA meeting list. However, meetings often follow a 12-step format. Members share their stories, often inappropriate at an open AA or NA meeting, support each other’s recovery, and share strategies for navigating a monitoring program successfully. Confirm a meeting with a recovering health professional.
Classical Greece
Published in Scott M. Jackson, Skin Disease and the History of Dermatology, 2023
All histories of Greek medicine begin with Asclepius, venerated by the Greeks as the god of medicine and mentioned in the first line of the Hippocratic Oath. The son of Apollo, Asclepius learned the healing art from Chiron, the centaur, but because of fears that he might make all men immortal, Zeus had Asclepius killed with a thunderbolt; from that time forward, he was known as the god of medicine and physicians. Asclepius carried a staff encircled by a single snake. The Rod of Asclepius is the correct symbol of medicine, not the caduceus—the staff of the god Hermes (Mercury)—which has two wings at the top and is intertwined with two snakes. The confusion began when the US Army Medical Corps mistakenly adopted the caduceus in 1902.4
Ancient Egyptian Pharmacology
Published in Ibrahim M. Eltorai, A Spotlight on the History of Ancient Egyptian Medicine, 2019
The caduceus, which is the snake symbol, was an important emblem in medical practice both in Egypt and Babylonia at approximately 4000 B.C., and the Greeks attributed it to Hermes, who is reciprocal to Thoth of Egypt. Thoth was at the top of the Egyptian healing gods. He was represented as an ibis, but later was represented as a man with the head of an ibis, was surmounted by the solar disc and lunar crescent. He was known to be a great scientist, known as the measurer and mathematician, and developed accurate sciences of art, theology, occult sciences, magic, and secret medical formulas. According to Clemens Alexandrius of the Christian era, Thot (Hermes of the Greeks) compiled 42 volumes in different fields. He was identified later by the Greeks as Hermes Trimegistus. Georg Ebers believes that his papyrus is one of these volumes. The caduceus is still used as a symbol in the medical corps and other associations. In Greek caduceus is the wand of Hermes, and it is made of a short herald staff with two serpents entwining around it in a double helix and sometimes surmounted by two wings. In antiquity, it was used as an astrological symbol representing the planet Mercury. It should not be confused with the traditional medical symbol, which has a short rod with only one serpent.
The 24-inch gauge and the common gavel: an entered apprentice mason’s perspective on the medical profession
Published in Baylor University Medical Center Proceedings, 2020
The medical profession has several symbols, including the caduceus, the rod of Asclepius, and the red cross. These symbols have become part of the public image of modern medicine in recognition of the value and dedication health care providers have given to their patients in each generation. Nevertheless, the significance of these symbols has waned in recent years with disillusionment from patients and clinicians over the realities of health care.18 As represented by the 24-inch gauge and common gavel, clinicians can reclaim these symbols through “dividing our time” and “divesting our minds and consciences of all the vices and superfluities of life.”5 With the 24-inch gauge, clinicians can be reminded to lay out their day’s work examining their patients, teaching their students, and remaining fully engaged in the moment while also maintaining their own personal health and well-being. Furthermore, “dividing our time” requires redefining success in medicine beyond materialistic pursuits. It is a process of careful attention and diligence toward our craft and managing its many demands. With the common gavel, clinicians are reminded that their work is a constant process of adjustment and removal of external and internal obstacles toward being fully present with patients and their illnesses. By applying these working tools in removing old habits, preconceptions, and personal biases toward their fellow man, physicians may acquire greater compassion, love, and humility toward patients and motivation to provide improved quality of care and patient interactions.
Medicine as a sacred vocation
Published in Baylor University Medical Center Proceedings, 2018
The ancient Greek caduceus, a winged staff with two snakes intertwined upon it, is a familiar symbol of American medical practice (Figure 3). The bearer of this staff is traditionally Asklepios, the Greek god of medicine, a figure central to the Greco-Roman medical tradition from roughly 1500 bc to ad 500.17 (Bailey17 offers a description of various versions of the myth of Asklepios.) Hesiod's account of Asklepios's myth is as follows.9