2 ms·
Sorry, but I strongly disagree with you. Allow me to respond with my own anecdote. I remember when I was dating a doctor being appalled by her complete inabil
by Judgmentality 6y ago
Sorry, but I strongly disagree with you. Allow me to respond with my own anecdote.
I remember when I was dating a doctor being appalled by her complete inability to think through a problem, and I later learned medical school is basically mass memorization. I am obviously cherry picking medicine here, but if doctors aren't even taught that by the time they're practicing in the United States I think it's fair to say critical thinking is sorely lacking in our education system. She was a neurologist who was unable to help me with my migraines, and I later figured them out on my own using ~drumroll~ critical thinking. I also saw at least a half dozen specialists at prestigious hospitals, all of whom were equally unhelpful in solving my problem. They were all very quick to prescribe pain medication though, in fact it seemed to be the only thing any of them were ever interested in doing. Some of them accused me of lying about my symptoms, and some told me I shouldn't even bother trying to get better.
If US doctors - some of the best educated and most highly trained professionals in the world - aren't good at thinking critically about medicine, I'm not confident that it's being taught in the US. In fact I'm quite confident it's not taught in the US (or at least it wasn't). I was never taught critical thinking in a classroom setting, and I have multiple degrees from the US.
- asveikau 6y agoYou base this on one doctor though. I have enough life experience to know that some doctors are better at their jobs than others. Maybe that's on the individual. Maybe some medical schools are better than others. I don't know what the explanation is. But I don't think you can extrapolate to "US doctors" in the plural.
- nmfisher 6y agoI don’t know, this exactly mirrors my experience, and I constantly hear the same from many other people. Sure, it’s not every doctor. But throw a dart at a map and you’re bound to hit one who’s like this more often than not.
- danaris 6y agoI have seen enough anecdotes like this about medical school to feel comfortable saying that, at the very least, there is no nationwide systematic effort to teach critical thinking within them or the primary and secondary educational institutions that precede them.