We trust modern medical science simply because it is a science. After all, isn't it backed by billions of dollars of research ? This is why Western medicine doctors have such a superiority complex as compared to homeopaths and ayurvedacharyas - because our practise is based on sound science , rather than just anecdotal evidence and tradition !
This is why doctors attend medical conferences and read medical journals - to keep upto date with the latest medical research and update their medical knowledgebase. And this is why patients believe that their doctors are experts - because they understand and can interpret the latest research findings.
Sadly, the truth is very different ! A lot of the "research" published in medical journals and presented in medical conference is useless.
The following article, published by the ex-editor of one of the most influential and prestigious medical journals, the BMJ ( British Medical Journal) is an eye-opener !
http://blogs.bmj.com/bmj/2014/01/31/richard-smith-medical-research-still-a-scandal/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+bmj%2Fblogs+%28Latest+BMJ+blogs%29&g=widget_default
This is why doctors attend medical conferences and read medical journals - to keep upto date with the latest medical research and update their medical knowledgebase. And this is why patients believe that their doctors are experts - because they understand and can interpret the latest research findings.
Sadly, the truth is very different ! A lot of the "research" published in medical journals and presented in medical conference is useless.
The following article, published by the ex-editor of one of the most influential and prestigious medical journals, the BMJ ( British Medical Journal) is an eye-opener !
Twenty years ago this week the statistician Doug Altman published an editorial in the BMJ arguing that much medical research was of poor quality and misleading. In his editorial entitled, “The Scandal of Poor Medical Research,” Altman wrote that much research was “seriously flawed through the use of inappropriate designs, unrepresentative samples, small samples, incorrect methods of analysis, and faulty interpretation.” Twenty years later I fear that things are not better but worse.
http://blogs.bmj.com/bmj/2014/01/31/richard-smith-medical-research-still-a-scandal/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+bmj%2Fblogs+%28Latest+BMJ+blogs%29&g=widget_default
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