"5 Reasons My Google Search Is Worth As Much As Your Medical Degree"

[JaimeS]

An obvious mistake. A large percentage of abstracts are not reliable for information, they are just a clue to finding out if you want to read the paper. Nobody should rely on abstracts, though with paywalls you cannot always get the full paper without paying money.

But now there's https://sci-hub.io/ !

-J

 

[JaimeS]

They don't learn that much about science in med school. Not much different from many other college degrees.

Also they learn very little about psychology/psychiatry.

So if someone has a MD degree they should be knowledgable about the human body but that doesn't necessarily mean that they are scientists or can read scientific publications or that they are expert psychologists.

Well, no one claimed they knew anything about psychiatry... but I'm sure they have to read and interpret scientific articles as part of their training. I had to do that, and I have a MS, which at least theoretically requires less training.

Then again, as someone who is and was an instructor, their teachers can talk until they're blue in the face about logic, but some will decide it isn't important that they absorb it or learn to apply it in different situations. Many people find it more comfortable to rely on someone else's thinking, either because the process of picking something apart themselves seems like work, or they are too insecure to rely on their own conclusions.

To presume that this is always the case, though, gives humanity too little credit. In every profession, there are people who are giving their all at their job and people who are just 'getting by'. I think the medical profession is no exception.

-J

 

[alex3619]

So if someone has a MD degree they should be knowledgable about the human body but that doesn't necessarily mean that they are scientists or can read scientific publications or that they are expert psychologists.

Gigerenzer has repeatedly shown that about 80% of American doctors do not even have a good grasp of very basic statistics. That is a worry. Its just one of the skills, of a great many skills, needed to understand medical papers.

 

[Richard7]

I think the other problem is that they are of course going to conferences etc to get their required hours of ongoing training and we know that some researchers (PACE) seem to go beyond what they are willing to write, or can get past peer review and an editor, when they are there in person.

And of course there are the issues with drug companies doing all they can to manipulate doctors, educate them on the new drug and consign all they once knew about the old drugs/treatments to the memory hole.