Do Doctors Today Know Less?
By Diana Olsen Friedman
Earlier this week, I went to happy hour with a few friends. While a Monday happy hour is not the norm for me (not since college, anyway), we were celebrating the recent graduation of two of our friends from the University of Pennsylvania Medical School, and their acceptance on "Match Day" to an outstanding Pediatrics program in Cincinnati.
After debating the many flavors of mojito on the menu, the talk turned to medicine. Doctor # 1 mentioned that she asked her dad, an OBGYN, a medical question recently and was amazed by his textbook recitation of the organic chemical compounds in blood. "This is information he probably hasn't used in more than 20 years, but he knew it cold. It made me think that doctors learned a lot more back then than we do now," she said.
Another friend (doctor # 2), whose dad is a pathologist, agreed. "My dad seems to be amazed by how much I don't know."
Yikes! Should I be scared? Are today's doctors ignorant of the fundamentals of medical knowledge? Not quite.
"Well," said doctor # 2, "think of how many more diseases and conditions we know about today. Our dads may have learned certain things more thoroughly, but they didn't have as much to learn."
She's right. Today's medical professionals are dealing with larger amounts of information than ever before. And the rate of change (admittedly not in the organic makeup of blood, but certainly in drug contraindications and treatment advice) is staggering. Every day new studies come out with seemingly contradictory outcomes, leading to confusion about correct medical procedure and medication administration.
"Thank goodness for Update," said doctor # 2. Apparently "Update" is a database that gives you the most up-to-date (hence the name) information about medical conditions based on studies and current guidelines. "I always ‘Update' conditions before I see patients," she said.
Later, as I thought more about their conversation and their reliance on real-time information, I realized that they were essentially arguing for the need for evidence-based medicine. No doctor, no matter which medical school he or she went to, can keep up-to-date on every change in practice and medication guidelines without some help. Doctors often work 80 hours a week. When exactly do they have time to scour journals and other medical texts, looking for important changes to information?
IT seems to be the answer. Having evidence-based practice guidelines embedded in EMRs, as well as access to online tools like Update, can provide doctors with the new knowledge they need, while allowing them to utilize their clinical skills and medical judgment to put that knowledge into practice.
Wouldn't you rather have a doctor who stays abreast of the latest medical advances than one who memorized a textbook 20 years ago? Of course, having a doctor who incorporates both approaches is ideal.
I'm confident that my friends will be the kind of doctors whose children will be amazed at their (ever-expanding) medical knowledge 20 years from now, thanks to their dedication to the field and a little help from technology.