In the past few years I have personal determined that two of my doctors were not current on new developments in their fields. As Joomi Kim writes, at Let’s Be Clear, this has become the norm. Her article is titled, “Most doctors don’t read research papers: And most don’t know how to critically assess them.”
Kim brings up another equally important concern. If your doctor is the rare doctor who does read the journals, does he or she know HOW to read a journal article. She shows that Eric Topol’s interpretation of Paxlovid study was embarrassingly wrong.
A doctor who does not put in the work to keep evolving, who does not appreciate how complex biology is, who doesn’t bother to read studies or doesn’t know how to critically appraise them, who doesn’t recognize the influence of the pharmaceutical industry on trials, or the fingerprints of “spin” present in much of “science journalism,” is borderline useless to you.
Don’t get me wrong: our medical system is decent at dealing with acute problems like broken limbs or acute bacterial infections. If you’re dealing with issues like these, you’ll probably be able to find decent care.
But when it comes to most other things, like what the best diet is, or the root causes of chronic issues like diabetes, dementia, heart disease, multiple sclerosis, allergies, psoriasis, Crohn’s disease, hormonal imbalances, insomnia, etc., the sad truth is that your average medical doctor does not have a clue beyond being able to prescribe a drug that will mask your symptoms.
If our doctors are not getting their information from medical journals, where are they getting their information? You might want to address that question to Big Pharma. E.g., see here.
