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I listened to a podcast on this, Freakenomics Radio Bad Medicine Part 3. The takeaway was that newer doctors had better outcomes than older doctors with the ex

I listened to a podcast on this, Freakenomics Radio Bad Medicine Part 3. The takeaway was that newer doctors had better outcomes than older doctors with the exceptions of surgeons. "JENA: Exactly. So patients more or less end up getting quasi-randomized to physicians with different characteristics. So for example if you happen to get hospitalized in the first week of May, you may be treated by a group of doctors who on average have five years’ less experience than if you happen to get hospitalized in the second week of May. And we can basically see what happens if a patient happens to be treated by a doctor who is 20 years out of residency versus 5 years out of residency. And what we find is that if you happen to be treated by a doctor who is 10 years or 15 years out of residency, your mortality within thirty days of being hospitalized is higher."

DanBC 9y ago
Another exception might be obstetricians. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1471-0528.14649/full http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1471-0528.14649/f... "The effect of senior obstetric presence on maternal and neonatal outcomes in UK NHS maternity units: a systematic review and meta-analysis" > Fifteen studies fulfilled the inclusion criteria, presenting data from 125 856 births. Overall, there was no significant difference between lesser and increased consultant presence for any outcome. When data were stratified by comparison type, the likelihood of emergency caesarean section was significantly lower (odds ratio, OR 0.91; 95% confidence interval, 95% CI 0.86–0.96) and the likelihood of non-instrumental vaginal delivery was significantly higher (OR 1.07; 95% CI 1.02–1.12) when the rostered hours of consultant presence per week were increased.
Lordarminius 9y ago
In my experience older physicians (internists in American lingo) and pediatricians trump younger ones any day.
- sjg007 9y ago
  At lot of doctors work in teams now. I think this could help to mitigate these issues.

DanBC 9y ago

Another exception might be obstetricians. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1471-0528.14649/full http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1471-0528.14649/f... "The effect of senior obstetric presence on maternal and neonatal outcomes in UK NHS maternity units: a systematic review and meta-analysis" > Fifteen studies fulfilled the inclusion criteria, presenting data from 125 856 births. Overall, there was no significant difference between lesser and increased consultant presence for any outcome. When data were stratified by comparison type, the likelihood of emergency caesarean section was significantly lower (odds ratio, OR 0.91; 95% confidence interval, 95% CI 0.86–0.96) and the likelihood of non-instrumental vaginal delivery was significantly higher (OR 1.07; 95% CI 1.02–1.12) when the rostered hours of consultant presence per week were increased.

Lordarminius 9y ago

In my experience older physicians (internists in American lingo) and pediatricians trump younger ones any day.

sjg007 9y ago
At lot of doctors work in teams now. I think this could help to mitigate these issues.