Re:Why Medical Advice Seems to Change So Frequently
by rscho on Wednesday January 18, 2017 @05:56PM
(#13431254)
Thanks, if I get the occasion, I will be trying to get in touch with Dr. Emery Brown. I actually happen to currently work at a Harvard-affiliated hospital in Boston.
On the subject of MD-PhDs, I agree with you on many points. I would still be happy to see the level of basic science capabilities in candidates increase. For example, in my country of origin, a lot of the program is devoted to fundamental biology. While this is indeed useful, I think a fully-fledged MD-PhD should absolutely have basics in fluid mechanics and computer programming/scripting.
Being an anesthesiologist myself, I must however admit that I am quite skeptical regarding current automated systems. In time, anesthesiology, surgery (which I think will be the first to go completely), and most of medicine will be performed by machines. The current rate of major complication related to anesthetic care is very, very low. And until they can demonstrate a benefit of automation on those grounds, I would be wary of such machines. This does also mean that the population sample required to demonstrate said benefit will be very, very big. Now if you are evaluating that on grounds of cost-effectiveness, I am quite sure we could already replace most anesthsiologists and surgeons, at the price of many, many more deaths.
To your comment, though. In the PHD section, you have to preform as a normal PHD student, ie, you have to publish papers for your PI. The learning and the classes, already at 2 years of very intense study, do not have the time to continue into comp-sci or physics. Nor do the students have the training in the math. To do the comp-sci and physics classes with a modicum of understanding, you must come in with at least: Multi-variable calculus, matrix algebra and differential equations, a total of 6 extra semesters of classes. Most MD/PHD people I have interacted with never took calculus to begin with. The hill to climb is very very long and steep, and unless there is a much larger prize than a possible faculty position at Wherever State Univ. where you still have to publish or perish, you are going to get few people going after it and not just opting into private practice.
Also, I have worked with a number of MDs, and yes, there is a Grand Canyon of misunderstanding between bio-peepz and the docs. Neither party really has the time to cross it, and so we just end up trying to use each other. Bio-peepz try to use the doc's name as leverage for increased grant funding from the NIH, and MDs are trying to get the bio people to patent something with their names on it to make more money. In the end, it's all about the money, or lack thereof.
[0]https://sleep.med.harvard.edu/people/faculty/150/Emery+N+Bro...