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Unless taking the test has a cost in and of itself -- such as if it requires surgery, so that the risk of something going wrong during testing might outweigh th
by Sniffnoy 15y ago
Unless taking the test has a cost in and of itself -- such as if it requires surgery, so that the risk of something going wrong during testing might outweigh the information gained if the condition being tested for is rare.
- bermanoid 15y agoYup, definitely, I should have made that more clear than it was (I did mention "after discounting for the cost of the test", but it wasn't as obvious as it should have been). Test costs have to be weighed against benefits, but that whole process involves a lot more statistical sophistication than is typically applied in practiced medicine. Researchers are slightly better, though it's fairly common even for them to make hideous statistical mistakes, which is a real problem in the field. IMO, if pre-med requirements included a bit more statistics and a bit less biology, we'd all be better off...
- Sniffnoy 15y agoAh, I missed that you included that.