BackgroundRecent scientific developments, along with growing awareness of cultural and social diversity, have led to a continuously growing range of available treatment options; however, such developments occasionally lead to an undesirable imbalance between science, technology and humanism in clinical practice. This study explores the understanding and practice of values and value clusters in real-life clinical settings, as well as their role in the humanization of medicine and its institutions. The research focuses on the values of clinical practice as a means of finding ways to enhance the pairing of Evidence-Based Medicine (EBM) with Values-based Medicine (VBM) in daily practice.Methods and findingsThe views and representations of clinical practice in 15 pre-CME and 15 post-CME interviews were obtained from a random sampling of active healthcare professionals. These views were then identified and qualitatively analyzed using a three-step hermeneutical approach.A clinical values space was identified in which ethical and epistemic values emerge, grow and develop within the biomedical, ethical, and socio-economic dimensions of everyday health care. Three main values—as well as the dynamic clusters and networks that they tend to form—were recognized: healthcare personnel-patient relationships, empathy, and respect. An examination of the interviews suggested that an adequate conceptualization of values leads to the formation of a wider axiological system. The role of clinician-as-consociate emerged as an ideal for achieving medical excellence.ConclusionsBy showing the intricate clusters and networks into which values are interwoven, our analysis suggests methods for fine-tuning educational interventions so they can lead to demonstrable changes in attitudes and practices.

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La biblioterapia, una tendencia con raíces ancestrales, ha cobrado un nuevo auge mundial en tiempos recientes. Esta propuesta de intervención educativo-terapéutica plantea que es posible mejorar la salud por medio del contacto habitual con la lectura. Partiendo del entendido de que los actos significativos de lectura propician cambios en los individuos, los teóricos y practicantes de la biblioterapia argumentan que leer puede aumentar el bienestar de las personas en diversos contextos y etapas de sus vidas, en especial cuando se hace de manera guiada y propositiva. En este artículo se presenta una revisión de los conceptos y facetas actuales de esta práctica interdisciplinaria, seguida de una exploración sobre sus posibilidades de estudio y aplicación a futuro.AbstractBiblio-therapy, an age-old technique, has recently regained some momentum in diverse settings around the world. This therapeutic-didactic approach posits that one can regain or improve health by reading on a regular basis. Taking this as a point of departure, the idea that significant acts of reading elicit changes in the reader, theorists and active practitioners of bibliotherapy argue that books can improve the well-being of individuals, particularly when it is guided in some way. This paper offers an assessment of concepts and current trends in biblio-therapy as an interdisciplinary practice, along with an exploration of potential paths for further development.