Are Doctors Becoming Obsolete?

[Pietrantonio]

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http://www.theatlantic.com/life/archive/2011/10/are-doctors-becoming-obsolete/246439/


My favorite quote:
"...and seek medical advice from friends on Facebook (which may have directly saved at least one life)."

 

[cchoukal]

I don't ordinarily engage in these discussions because I feel like a lot of the defense of the status quo ends up sounding territorial, but articles like this really send the wrong message. There are two facts that, in my opinion, are hard to refute:

1) physicians are bad at following guidelines/protocols/"best" practices/etc. and practicing in a way that garners favorable ratings.

2) the evidence for many such guidelines/protocols/"best" practices/etc. is poor, subtle, and potentially misleading.

But this guy spends 90% of the article talking about point #1 and pays mere lip-service to #2.

Remember when everyone thought hormone-replacement in menopause should be the SOC? Oh wait, that kills people. Swan-Ganz catheters for every ICU patient? Definitely. Oh, wait.

Perioperative beta-blockade? More strokes? Who cares, it's the guideline.

So who's going to absorb the liability for the bad outcomes resulting from adherance to guidelines from the gov't/Joint Commission/etc. based on flawed data?

YOU are.

And what's the author going to do when he gets a rash? Go to Facebook? What about when he feels a lump someplace? Car accident? Don't all these high-minded, sensible ideals just go right out the window when you get "sick"?

It just seems really short-sighted to me to undercut all the credibility of the medical community, marginalize their credentials and education, and then expect that when the $hit goes down, there should still be this extensively-trained expert ready to deal with it, just waiting in the wings, being crapped on by the gov't, nursing leadership, and society-at-large all along, until that one moment when you are ready to appreciate them.

\end rant.

 

[Pietrantonio]

I don't ordinarily engage in these discussions because I feel like a lot of the defense of the status quo ends up sounding territorial, but articles like this really send the wrong message. There are two facts that, in my opinion, are hard to refute:

1) physicians are bad at following guidelines/protocols/"best" practices/etc. and practicing in a way that garners favorable ratings.

2) the evidence for many such guidelines/protocols/"best" practices/etc. is poor, subtle, and potentially misleading.

But this guy spends 90% of the article talking about point #1 and pays mere lip-service to #2.

Remember when everyone thought hormone-replacement in menopause should be the SOC? Oh wait, that kills people. Swan-Ganz catheters for every ICU patient? Definitely. Oh, wait.

Perioperative beta-blockade? More strokes? Who cares, it's the guideline.

So who's going to absorb the liability for the bad outcomes resulting from adherance to guidelines from the gov't/Joint Commission/etc. based on flawed data?

YOU are.

And what's the author going to do when he gets a rash? Go to Facebook? What about when he feels a lump someplace? Car accident? Don't all these high-minded, sensible ideals just go right out the window when you get "sick"?

It just seems really short-sighted to me to undercut all the credibility of the medical community, marginalize their credentials and education, and then expect that when the $hit goes down, there should still be this extensively-trained expert ready to deal with it, just waiting in the wings, being crapped on by the gov't, nursing leadership, and society-at-large all along, until that one moment when you are ready to appreciate them.

\end rant.

Exactly what I thought. Well said.

 

[BLADEMDA]

So perhaps there are really two questions here: First, will doctors become obsolete? I doubt it, and suspect that reports of their demise have been greatly exaggerated. Second -- and arguably more interestingly: Should (most) doctors become obsolete -- or less provocatively, does the practice of medicine need to change? Here, the answer must be yes. We urgently need to track and review outcomes that can already be measured, and we must dramatically improve our ability to measure patient health and real-world effectiveness, so that physicians can get better, and patient care can improve.

 

[fastosprintini]

of course doctors are obsolete, in future a family nurse practitioner (FNP) will refer a client (formerly known as patient) to the doctor of nurse radiology (DNR) for workup, then the surgical pa and his pa assistant(PAA) will perform the procedure under the watchful eye of a board certified doctor of nurse anesthesia (DNP-CRNA) , followed by an autopsy performed by the doctor of nurse pathology (DNP, PHD,DOA ,LMAO etc. etc.).
good times.....
fasto

 

[foxtrot]

of course doctors are obsolete, in future a family nurse practitioner (FNP) will refer a client (formerly known as patient) to the doctor of nurse radiology (DNR) for workup, then the surgical pa and his pa assistant(PAA) will perform the procedure under the watchful eye of a board certified doctor of nurse anesthesia (DNP-CRNA) , followed by an autopsy performed by the doctor of nurse pathology (DNP, PHD,DOA ,LMAO etc. etc.).
good times.....
fasto

Love it.

 

[secretasianman]

of course doctors are obsolete, in future a family nurse practitioner (FNP) will refer a client (formerly known as patient) to the doctor of nurse radiology (DNR) for workup, then the surgical pa and his pa assistant(PAA) will perform the procedure under the watchful eye of a board certified doctor of nurse anesthesia (DNP-CRNA) , followed by an autopsy performed by the doctor of nurse pathology (DNP, PHD,DOA ,LMAO etc. etc.).
good times.....
fasto

so funny but probably somewhat true haha. ;(

 

[Fooper]

of course doctors are obsolete, in future a family nurse practitioner (FNP) will refer a client (formerly known as patient) to the doctor of nurse radiology (DNR) for workup, then the surgical pa and his pa assistant(PAA) will perform the procedure under the watchful eye of a board certified doctor of nurse anesthesia (DNP-CRNA) , followed by an autopsy performed by the doctor of nurse pathology (DNP, PHD,DOA ,LMAO etc. etc.).
good times.....
fasto

HYSTERICAL!!!

 

[Substance]

No.

There will always need to be someone individually liable for real and/or perceived medical malpractice.