What do doctors know? (warning: rant)

and the fact that a nurse working a normal shift will make an error in 1/4 of her decisions.

And where is this mindblowing "fact" from? My guess is somewhere the sun doesn't shine. That is such complete and utter bull. Do me a favor and don't post BS on the internet and claim it as a fact when it is nothing more than garbage you made up based on your own personal bias. Chances are the same nurses you are badmouthing are the same people often catching errors that could potentially be killing the people you love made by others- orders by doctors, miscalculations by pharmacy. Sure, human error happens, sometimes by nurses. But 1/4 of the decisions in their shift. What a freaking crock of crap.

Thank you! And well said!

Actually it was a statistic from Mgill university in montreal, they were studying the effect of pressure, stress, and overtime hours on nurses and the way they handle decision structures. I will gladly ask for the study from the references section in the library and make a copy if you are interested. \essentially it showed that the fallibility of an average nurse working in a hospital environment was 1/4 decisions, during a double shift that became nearly half.

I have a huge problem with modern medicine, specifically because quite simply it's a business. A business has a job to make money, and as such is biased. Aside from the conspiracy on the modern medicinal society which you can get enough bullroar about by using google, I would also have to point to the statistics of how many doctors make mistakes, and the fact that a nurse working a normal shift will make an error in 1/4 of her decisions.

Also while your doctor is given tons and tons of classes, they don't do a bit of good if they don't know everything about YOUR body. Every time a doctor prescribes something to you it's based on best guess. Yes they take into account what you look like when you walk through the door, your description of the symptoms etc. However in the end it really is just a quick calculation of something that matches around those symptoms.

The only way to really be sure of anything is to research yourself, know your entire body, and really understand the concept of a drug and what it's made to accomplish. That or get a family doctor who should know pretty much everything about you after 5-10 years of seeing him on a regular basis including yearly physicals.

That all being said, at least a doctors guess is an EDUCATED one. So unless you truly have taken the time to educate yourself on your body and health, and how it all functions, you should definitely take your doctors advice. You may not like the advice, but it is a thousand times better than your best guess, and DEFINITELY a million times better than some random person posting online who hasn't even SEEN you in order to understand what symptoms you have that you don't even know about. Doctors are trained to take everything into account about you from the second you walk in the door, they see subtle things that you likely don't have a clue about.

As with anything, any advice someone gives you should be taken with a grain of salt. Something like your health you should definitely research and fully understand so that you can make an educated decision at any given time. Otherwise you leave yourself at the mercy of others, either your friend who thinks they're a know it all, a random man in a white coat (who you have no idea how well he did in med school), or the internet (good people and trolls a like.).

Many valid points here!

I'm not saying all doctors are bad - but seriously - most doctors offices book appointments every 10 minutes, sometimes 20. How much can your doctor really cover in that short of a time?

a) not to burst your bubble here, but just about everything is a business. And yes, businesses are in the business to make money, but that doesn't mean they're out to screw you over. A lot of people do like to help people and find what's right for them

b) That's why you go to the same doctor consistently. I have had my share of health problems in the past and since they know my history and my body is makes it much easier. They have also put in the time and effort to figure out what the problem was and how I can go about controlling the source.

Damn people for trying to make money! Oh wait, I guess that means me too b/c i like money

I have a huge problem with modern medicine, specifically because quite simply it's a business. A business has a job to make money, and as such is biased. Aside from the conspiracy on the modern medicinal society which you can get enough bullroar about by using google, I would also have to point to the statistics of how many doctors make mistakes, and the fact that a nurse working a normal shift will make an error in 1/4 of her decisions.

Also while your doctor is given tons and tons of classes, they don't do a bit of good if they don't know everything about YOUR body. Every time a doctor prescribes something to you it's based on best guess. Yes they take into account what you look like when you walk through the door, your description of the symptoms etc. However in the end it really is just a quick calculation of something that matches around those symptoms.

Also, that physical your describing is actually a pretty thorough physical if he's doing finger-rub and whatnot. Those are physical exam skills that a lot of doctors brush over these days but are legitimately part of it. Like I said, don't brush off something that you don't fully understand - just ask!
The only way to really be sure of anything is to research yourself, know your entire body, and really understand the concept of a drug and what it's made to accomplish. That or get a family doctor who should know pretty much everything about you after 5-10 years of seeing him on a regular basis including yearly physicals.

That all being said, at least a doctors guess is an EDUCATED one. So unless you truly have taken the time to educate yourself on your body and health, and how it all functions, you should definitely take your doctors advice. You may not like the advice, but it is a thousand times better than your best guess, and DEFINITELY a million times better than some random person posting online who hasn't even SEEN you in order to understand what symptoms you have that you don't even know about. Doctors are trained to take everything into account about you from the second you walk in the door, they see subtle things that you likely don't have a clue about.

As with anything, any advice someone gives you should be taken with a grain of salt. Something like your health you should definitely research and fully understand so that you can make an educated decision at any given time. Otherwise you leave yourself at the mercy of others, either your friend who thinks they're a know it all, a random man in a white coat (who you have no idea how well he did in med school), or the internet (good people and trolls a like.).

Indeed.

I was having issues sleeping and my GP prescribed me an anti depressant. I am the least depressed person I know! I never took it but now whenever I'm not feeling well I tell my husband I'm going to go to Dr. X to get an anti depressant.

I am not a big fan of doctors. My "physical" takes all of about ten minutes and it consists of me touching my toes and my doctor whispering a number in one ear while he rustles his hand in the other to see if I'm deaf. The most I've gotten out of a physical is that I have high arches. Seriously. (And no I don't go to him all the time, just use him as the reference for the spot you're forced to fill out when asked who your GP is on forms. I pretty much go to my gyno for everything)

I have a huge problem with modern medicine, specifically because quite simply it's a business. A business has a job to make money, and as such is biased. Aside from the conspiracy on the modern medicinal society which you can get enough bullroar about by using google, I would also have to point to the statistics of how many doctors make mistakes, and the fact that a nurse working a normal shift will make an error in 1/4 of her decisions.

Also while your doctor is given tons and tons of classes, they don't do a bit of good if they don't know everything about YOUR body. Every time a doctor prescribes something to you it's based on best guess. Yes they take into account what you look like when you walk through the door, your description of the symptoms etc. However in the end it really is just a quick calculation of something that matches around those symptoms.

The only way to really be sure of anything is to research yourself, know your entire body, and really understand the concept of a drug and what it's made to accomplish. That or get a family doctor who should know pretty much everything about you after 5-10 years of seeing him on a regular basis including yearly physicals.

That all being said, at least a doctors guess is an EDUCATED one. So unless you truly have taken the time to educate yourself on your body and health, and how it all functions, you should definitely take your doctors advice. You may not like the advice, but it is a thousand times better than your best guess, and DEFINITELY a million times better than some random person posting online who hasn't even SEEN you in order to understand what symptoms you have that you don't even know about. Doctors are trained to take everything into account about you from the second you walk in the door, they see subtle things that you likely don't have a clue about.

As with anything, any advice someone gives you should be taken with a grain of salt. Something like your health you should definitely research and fully understand so that you can make an educated decision at any given time. Otherwise you leave yourself at the mercy of others, either your friend who thinks they're a know it all, a random man in a white coat (who you have no idea how well he did in med school), or the internet (good people and trolls a like.).

Many valid points here!

I'm not saying all doctors are bad - but seriously - most doctors offices book appointments every 10 minutes, sometimes 20. How much can your doctor really cover in that short of a time?

a) not to burst your bubble here, but just about everything is a business. And yes, businesses are in the business to make money, but that doesn't mean they're out to screw you over. A lot of people do like to help people and find what's right for them

b) That's why you go to the same doctor consistently. I have had my share of health problems in the past and since they know my history and my body is makes it much easier. They have also put in the time and effort to figure out what the problem was and how I can go about controlling the source.

Damn people for trying to make money! Oh wait, I guess that means me too b/c i like money

Sorry to burst YOUR bubble, but you obviously didn't read my whole post. Read my response to another who posted the same thing as you did on the first page, (My post may be on the second) and maybe you'll understand. It was enough for the first person to remove his comment, maybe youll learn enough about context to do the same.

I did read you post in its entirety, but you didn't really take a stance. You don't get to take both sides and be wishy-washy about it. You don't like doctors. Research yourself b/c nobody knows your body better than you. But doctors are educated an know best. However, take what people tell you about your body with a grain of salt. Nice political answer.

Some times suspicion is warranted. Sometimes doctors make horrible calls and should be questioned. It's the smug attitude of so many people that work in healthcare that gets in the way. I'm not saying that there aren't difficult patients, of course there are, but many times doctors are just as bad.

I have a huge problem with modern medicine, specifically because quite simply it's a business. A business has a job to make money, and as such is biased.

I've never met a doctor with that attitude. I've never met one that hopes a person will leave soon or that a person doesn't notice they're not running the appropriate tests.

Sounds like you don't know many doctors, then. If you ask a doctor a question that is considerably outside of his scope of specialization which falls under a clearly defined separate medical field, I can guarantee you that he will raise his internal eyebrow about why you're asking him. It's like asking the local computer guy if he can fix the fax machine. Yeah, he probably can. But he secretly hopes you just call a fax guy, and you both know you'll get better results if you do.

As an MD, I can tell you that doctors don't want to see their patients every 10-20 minutes and would love to sit and talk with you about weight loss and exercise plans if they had the chance. The problem is that insurance companies don't pay for education in most instances, and the reimbursement rates are so low that doctors have to stack patients in order to stay afloat. This is why 'concierge' practices are becoming so popular - without the insurance company, doctors can spend an hour plus with each person and be very thorough. They hammer the patient-first model into us in medical school, but when you get into the real world it's the insurance companies that determine how you practice.
Also, doctors aren't magicians. If you come in with a set of symptoms, it could usually easily be about 10 different things. We usually start conservatively with an educated guess (I think someone mentioned this). This is why it's SO important to have a running dialogue with your physician... and to even have a primary care physician to begin with. You can talk about what's working and what's not and tailor therapy to the individual. If you keep hopping from one physician to the next, most are going to come up with the same differential and work it up in the same order, or end up with unnecessary expensive tests at the ER.
As for the nutrition side, it's true that we don't get taught in-depth about different exercise regimens and whatnot, but we do learn nutrition and know healthy and unhealthy ways to lose weight and if you're lucky, you can refer to a dietitian for specific diet plans and help with lifestyle changes and things that require a lot more time than the doctor's visit has for it.