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How to swim with sharks: a perspective on Voltaire Cousteau’s primer
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Date
2018-02-05
Authors
Shanahan, Fergus
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Oxford University Press (OUP)
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Abstract
Voltaire Cousteau’s primer on how to swim with sharks first appeared 45 years ago and stands alone, timeless.[1,2] At once quirky, yet clear, concise, clever; it continues to raise a smile. Swimming with sharks is not, of course, a required pastime or needed for most successful careers. It is, however, a valuable survival skill, particularly for those with ambition to explore the privileges that a life in medicine can offer. Medicine is a sea of opportunities, which encompass and transcend healthcare, science, education, leadership and entrepreneurship. In such waters, encounters with sharks are common. William Osler likened the study of medicine without books to sailing in uncharted sea, while studying without patients as not to go to sea at all.[3] Similarly, Cousteau warned that books cannot substitute for practice when learning how to swim with sharks. Having abided by his guidance, I offer a survivor’s comments in grateful tribute to Cousteau.
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Keywords
Voltaire Cousteau , How to swim with sharks , Medical career , Career success , Workplace , Medicine , Leadership , Responsibility
Citation
Shanahan, F. (2018) 'How to swim with sharks: a perspective on Voltaire Cousteau’s primer', QJM: An International Journal of Medicine, hcy027, 112(1), pp. 61–62. doi: 10.1093/qjmed/hcy027
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© The Author(s) 2018. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Association of Physicians. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com. This is a pre-copyedited, author-produced PDF of an article accepted for publication in QJM: An International Journal of Medicine following peer review. The version of record is available online at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/qjmed/hcy027