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What's the point of casually dismissing this article's premise? Whether the conclusions are fully sound or not isn't the goal of this article, this is journalis
by jrajav 6y ago
What's the point of casually dismissing this article's premise? Whether the conclusions are fully sound or not isn't the goal of this article, this is journalistic not academic. The goal is to raise awareness of a potential bias, and I think it achieves that (assuming the facts all check out).
For one, according to the article the discrepancy was found to be up to 8 points in some cases, not 3. And it seems reasonable that quick, practical decisions in hospitals are made based on point thresholds, not purely huge point leaps as you suggest.
I haven't dug any further than the article and your comment to verify these facts. But rather than find a way to prove why this doesn't matter, why don't we assume it does? Then the knowledge and awareness might spread a little bit more through us, and if it is an issue, it might be that much more likely to be solved. There's no penalty for being wrong with a weakly held but well-meaning assumption. At the very least, we can be more aware of another possible dimension of bias in technology.
- x86_64Ubuntu 6y agoThis thread because it has race as a secondary theme will be rife with such statements dismissing the premise.
- spoopyskelly 6y agoBullshit should be dismissed, regardless of race.
- treis 6y ago>What's the point of casually dismissing this article's premise? Because it should be casually dismissed. This person doesn't know what they're talking about, refused to listen to the people who told them they didn't know what they are talking about, and wrote an article full of nonsense.
- rednerrus 6y ago"Journalists" in 2020 summarized.
- prvc 6y ago>why don't we assume it does? Then the knowledge and awareness might spread a little bit more If the assumption is incorrect, then it would be misinformation that we would be spreading.
- jennyyang 6y agoMedicine is very rarely about absolutes, it's mostly about how things get better or worse. When I was in the hospital, no one looked at the absolute values of my blood work, they cared to see if it dropped based on the treatment they saw. Also, doctors are already aware about how oximeters may be inaccurate. It doesn't mean that they still can't be useful.
- skwb 6y agoYeah, if we had such cut and dry "rules" about medicine, then we could automate a lot of what doctors do. Medicine is as much about the art as it is the science. You come to understand the limitations of different measuring techniques, and learn to know when you need to rely on each for more accurate representations.
- btach 6y agoMany quick, practical decisions are made on patient assessment and clinical judgement, not just numbers. None of us that I know of has ever come across a perfect pulse ox. "Treat the patient, not the numbers" as the saying goes. When they don't match up, I like to do things like use a different finger/hand (or ear lobe or forehead).