One of the challenges of integrating the biopsychosocial model into medical teaching and practice is the effect of technique on medicine. Relying heavily on the thought of Jacques Ellul, this article defines technique as the systematic application of machine principles to all domains of life, and the evaluation and adjustment of all human activity according to the criterion of efficiency. The article then considers the tension between technique and the biopsychosocial model of medicine, and explores ways to offset the problems technique causes while preserving the good that technique achieves, with particular reference to the teaching of family medicine residents.
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