Great read. The honesty of some of the doctors in this write up is refreshing. The article mentions a doctor that reversed his stance on hormone therapy for postmenopausal women with heart disease and how hard it was to hear his patients’ response. Admitting your error, especially in front of a patient is difficult. Maintaining trust with the patient would be not only challenging, but also significant for their care. This is a great lesson in the importance of staying current, utilizing truly effective treatments, and checking your pride every now and again.
Another point that was brought up in the same area of the paper was our cultural bias toward novel over proven treatments.
“We have a culture where we reward discovery; we don’t reward replication,” Prasad says
I think this is so true, especially when I look at all of the information that is pumped our way from varying sources. It is so easy to get caught up on one wildly new idea before properly vetting it. As a clinician I think we have a huge challenge with the current research and clinical landscape to stay current, but also stay grounded.