A theme in a some of my secondary essays is that alternative medicine is largely ineffective and/or harmful to public health (mostly presupposed in the context of a separate experience but sometimes stated explicitly).
While writing my secondaries, I falsely assumed that physicians held ubiquitously negative opinions towards alternative treatments. Only after almost completing my essays did I look at the relevant surveys (e.g. of rheumatologists, OB/GYN physicians, and primary care physicians).
In the OB/GYN survey, which occurred in 2008, a quarter of the physicians held the opinion that homeopathy was at least moderately effective (Table 2). Although that was a relatively negatively viewed modality, that figure still seemed astonishingly high to me.
In my essays, I specifically use variations of the terms, "homeopathy," "naturopathy," and "alternative medicine" in negative light. I think my essays would come off as arrogant if you had a favorable or even neutral attitude towards these things.
Is this okay to write about considering how some physician adcoms could possibly view it? In other words, how representative of the entire physician population are those on admissions committees?
Also, what are the attitudes of the non-physician adcoms towards alternative medicine? (As I finish writing this, it looks like I assumed the vast majority of adcoms are physicians, which I now realize is probably not the case.)
While writing my secondaries, I falsely assumed that physicians held ubiquitously negative opinions towards alternative treatments. Only after almost completing my essays did I look at the relevant surveys (e.g. of rheumatologists, OB/GYN physicians, and primary care physicians).
In the OB/GYN survey, which occurred in 2008, a quarter of the physicians held the opinion that homeopathy was at least moderately effective (Table 2). Although that was a relatively negatively viewed modality, that figure still seemed astonishingly high to me.
In my essays, I specifically use variations of the terms, "homeopathy," "naturopathy," and "alternative medicine" in negative light. I think my essays would come off as arrogant if you had a favorable or even neutral attitude towards these things.
Is this okay to write about considering how some physician adcoms could possibly view it? In other words, how representative of the entire physician population are those on admissions committees?
Also, what are the attitudes of the non-physician adcoms towards alternative medicine? (As I finish writing this, it looks like I assumed the vast majority of adcoms are physicians, which I now realize is probably not the case.)
