Last week I had a doctors appointment and surprisingly or luckily because I was his last patient scheduled and he seemed to be in a talkative mood, he granted me a brief interview. Our conversation headed in the direction of doctors and their continuing education to keep up with advancements in modern medicine. He said that it surprises and disturbs him how little attention many of his colleagues pay to current medical articles. He explained how he didn't come to medicine in the traditional way. He didn't get straight A's in college and he didn't immediately go to medical school nor did he go to any of the top ranking universities. Truthfully he confessed how everything was tough for him. As a matter of fact, he only got a medical education because of a passion for medicine motivated by the health problems his son was suffering.

He stated how he was a parent before he was a doctor, and as a parent he read all the medical news that he could get a hold of. Of course, he could not read the serious medical journal articles. He didn't have the money to subscribe to these journals, and anyway, the writing was above his head. Nonetheless, he continually checked in on medical websites, watched health news on the evening news, and in general kept as abreast of new medical technologies as a citizen with no background in human physiology can.

Continuing Medical Education

When he could finally read medical articles and understand what was going on, he told me how overjoyed it made him. He explained how he enjoyed reading every medical article that he could get a hold of, but especially the cutting edge stuff. The medical community, like many communities, is always about 10 years behind. New discoveries such as the potential dangers of antibiotics and the interaction between mind and body still have not received total medical recognition. The problem is that, when doctors don't keep up with the cutting edge, people get sick or die. This is why it is so crucial for professionals to keep up with the current medical articles.

He told me how many doctors think it is enough to read the medical articles that are specific to their area of specialization. It isn't. Patients don't always neatly and conveniently end up at the correct doctor at the correct time. Sometimes, a serious medical problem has a source that no one can anticipate. When this happens, knowing the current medical literature can save the patient's life. It is as simple as that. Articles on medicine teach doctors things that they did not learn when they went to med school. Their knowledge of human anatomy changes so quickly that education for a doctor must be continuous. He explained, if you are a doctor, whether you work in general practice or have specialized in surgery, neurology, or some other field, you owe it to yourself and you owe it to your patients to read medical journals. The moral of this story is: Always Get A Second Opinion!

by Neil Gerstein  The Health Nut - Health Fitness and Nutrition News
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