picture from cartoonbank.com
I’ve been thinking a lot lately about what influences the medical decisions that I make. As a physician, I want to make sure that my medical opinions are sound and based as much in what we know for sure as possible. But most medical decisions aren’t based in science, even when it is something that has been studied and is known. I’m not talking about making decisions based on experience or individual biases, but those based on cultural trends, political winds, or for financial gain such as pharmaceutical disease mongering. All of these factors influence us in myriad ways that we don’t often even recognize. I explored this (briefly) in a recent post on Doximity, but hope to explore it in more depth in the near future. I’d love to hear what you think about some of these issues that impact the practice of medicine for all of us, and what examples you can think of.