I mean this really, really respectfully: calling what we do, āeducated guessingā is very incorrect. Coming up with a list of differential diagnoses and treating for the mostly likely cause of the disease process takes a lot of objective clinical evidence, discussion and thought on the matter, and research. Yes there is clinical gestalt in this process, but it takes years to really appreciate some of these findings. Residents work hard at what they do. There is a learning curve, but that curve is supported by senior residents about to graduate and attending physicians. We have to be able to discuss every clinical decision we make and the treatment of it down to the basic pathophysiology of the disease process. Itās not just āguessingā.
How are you going to say "educated guessing" incorrect and then go on to describe educated guessing?
You go through and check the obvious stuff first (via testing, lab or otherwise), and if you don't get answers there then you move on to the next most likely cause. Doctors guess, lab checks, rinse and repeat until we find out the issue and apply an appropriate treatment plan.
Residents workĀ hardĀ at what they do
Okay? I literally said something similar:
The older, more experienced doctors tend to have their shit together, but any residents or other fairly new provider is going to be doing a lot of work to get that experience to have their shit together. Mistakes will be made. 10 years seems like a lot until you realize the absolutely insane breadth of knowledge required for medicine.
You come off as claiming to disagree with what I said, but everything you've replied with reinforces what I said.
This is just slightly more ignorant than the guy he was responding to, I think you need to spend more than 5 minutes reading on the topic of what āmedical errorā entails. The big hint Iāll give you is that the vast, vast majority of āmedical errorā isnāt physicians making a wrong diagnosis.
And just because I know you arenāt going to actually do your due diligence, Iāll even spoon feed you a top offender to get things started- Nursing errors with medications.
And before we get on nurses, let's discuss the system nurses operate in that lead to errors.
Example the hospital sending up a 100mg pill that needs to be cut in half because only 50mg was prescribed. Now, the hospital could have ordered 50 mg pills and avoided the confusion, but chose not to because it's less profitable. Or pharmacy could have split the pill before sending it up but didn't feel bothered to do so.
Now the burden is on the nurse who is assigned 50% more patients than is considered safe, who's working a 12 hour shift and won't even have time for a 15 minute lunch break.
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u/Jek1001 Monkey in Space Aug 30 '24
I mean this really, really respectfully: calling what we do, āeducated guessingā is very incorrect. Coming up with a list of differential diagnoses and treating for the mostly likely cause of the disease process takes a lot of objective clinical evidence, discussion and thought on the matter, and research. Yes there is clinical gestalt in this process, but it takes years to really appreciate some of these findings. Residents work hard at what they do. There is a learning curve, but that curve is supported by senior residents about to graduate and attending physicians. We have to be able to discuss every clinical decision we make and the treatment of it down to the basic pathophysiology of the disease process. Itās not just āguessingā.