Medical "best practice" often no more than opinion

[Celebration]

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE70A06J20110111

Even when following medical guidelines to the letter, doctors often use treatments that have little or no scientific support, U.S. researchers said Monday.

They found only one in seven treatment recommendations from the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) -- a society representing healthcare providers and researchers across the country -- were based on high-quality data from clinical trials .

By contrast, more than half the recommendations relied solely on expert opinion or anecdotal evidence.

"Despite tremendous research efforts, there is still a lot of uncertainty as to what is the best patient care," said Dr. Ole Vielemeyer, an expert in infectious diseases at Drexel University College of Medicine in Philadelphia and one of the study's authors.

"A cookie-cutter approach, where you just have a set of guidelines that you apply no matter what, can be dangerous."

[notadmblnd]

1. opinion? Hell, I just thought it was- what ever pharamacutical company

gave the physician enough $$$ in kick backs to prescribe their drugs.

[stray cat]

2. You need to find a new physician if that is all you have experienced

[trotsky]

3. Yay! Doctor bashing!

I love that sport!

[BuddhaGirl]

5. Yay! At times it's deserved.

Unfortunately kickbacks do occur :-(

[trotsky]

6. Read the post I responded to very carefully.

And tell me if any distinction was made. Thanks.

[BuddhaGirl]

11. so what

as I said, at times it's deserved. A doctor relying on anecdotal evidence?? Oh my :eyes:

[trotsky]

13. "at times it's deserved"

A phrase that's been used to justify all sorts of bigotry and intolerance. Way to go.

[BuddhaGirl]

16. "intolerance"

projection, I believe. :eyes:

[trotsky]

17. Oh of course.

Even though it wasn't me making the blanket condemnation and justifying it by saying "well some of them do it."

[notadmblnd]

7. I didn't write the article. I just commented on it.

[trotsky]

10. And used a broad brush against all doctors.

Nice.

[notadmblnd]

18. and the article didnt?

The article said that Dr.s are not doing research and using scientific data when making recommendations. That's not a negative to you? I didn't see you complain about the article itself, just my response to it. I wonder why that is?

[trotsky]

19. I'm sorry you are having difficulty seeing the distinction.

It's not about being negative, it's about how you phrase things and whether you use qualifiers. The article did. You didn't. You made a blanket statement bashing doctors. I wonder why that is?

[Celebration]

4. JMHO

Doctors see tons of patients with different type ailments. Lots of problems don't have scientifically validated therapies associated with them. Yet they have patients that need treatment!! So, I appreciate a great physician that brings a lot of experience, thought, and personal intuition into the diagnosis and suggested treatment. I certainly agree with the statement that a cookie cutter approach is dangerous.

I have found that most MDs don't throw pharmaceutical drugs at a problem, but a significant minority do, so one must be always aware of that tendency in some doctors, and be prepared to switch gears and doctors if the first one or two aren't satisfactory.

I'm sure that everyone here agrees with all my sentiments. ;)

[hedgehog]

8. IIRC, researchers have found that often for a given condition,

doctors in one region will recommend medical treatment while doctors in another region will recommend surgery. A woman's chances of ending up with a hysterectomy are very dependent on where she lives, for example.

The Health Care Reform Bill at one time contained a clause to gather data to determine best practices for common conditions; I don't know if that clause made it to the final Bill or not.

[bemildred]

9. See, that's called "herd immunity". nt

[Celebration]

12. LOL

All the doctors in this city went to the same medical school, it seems. Not much diversity.............

[hedgehog]

14. That's pretty close to what happens - doctors practicing in the same

hospitals tend to follow the same practices.

[Celebration]

15. it pays to do your own research

"Group think" isn't exactly scientific....