A physician who teaches evidence-based medicine, and who is also a freelance health journalist, has been reading my thoughts about journalists advocating screening tests in the absence of evidence.
She wrote me: “Here’s one of the more annoying recent examples, one that I actually used in class to illustrate the issue of patients coming in and requesting specific tests based on what they read in the newspaper.”
So I’m adding Parade Magazine to my list of offenders.
Comments
Please note, comments are no longer published through this website. All previously made comments are still archived and available for viewing through select posts.
jim jaffe
March 5, 2008 at 9:52 amwhat’s the beef? we want patients to interact with docs rather than being passive. The Parade piece says, “ask you doc” about these. It doesn’t say demand them. The doc can explain why test doesn’t seem worthwhile or appropriate. Had a similar exchange with my doc about something the WSJ was being hysterical about. She said she didn’t see need for text and explained why. that was fine with me.
The Publisher
March 5, 2008 at 10:22 amRemember: this was submitted by a physician who teaches evidence-based medicine.
So I won’t answer for her, but my read is that:
A. Many physicians don’t want to use the limited face time they have with patients to go over media-hyped interventions that aren’t supported by evidence.
B. There is not convincing evidence for the interventions in question.
Also remember: 16% of the GDP is being spent on health care. Experts say much of it is on unproven technologies and interventions.
I’m not going to rehash the long discussion on this blog and elsewhere that gives the long background and rationale for being careful about promoting all tests to all populations. But it’s there for anyone to read.
Our Comments Policy
But before leaving a comment, please review these notes about our policy.
You are responsible for any comments you leave on this site.
This site is primarily a forum for discussion about the quality (or lack thereof) in journalism or other media messages (advertising, marketing, public relations, medical journals, etc.) It is not intended to be a forum for definitive discussions about medicine or science.
We will delete comments that include personal attacks, unfounded allegations, unverified claims, product pitches, profanity or any from anyone who does not list a full name and a functioning email address. We will also end any thread of repetitive comments. We don”t give medical advice so we won”t respond to questions asking for it.
We don”t have sufficient staffing to contact each commenter who left such a message. If you have a question about why your comment was edited or removed, you can email us at feedback@healthnewsreview.org.
There has been a recent burst of attention to troubles with many comments left on science and science news/communication websites. Read “Online science comments: trolls, trash and treasure.”
The authors of the Retraction Watch comments policy urge commenters:
We”re also concerned about anonymous comments. We ask that all commenters leave their full name and provide an actual email address in case we feel we need to contact them. We may delete any comment left by someone who does not leave their name and a legitimate email address.
And, as noted, product pitches of any sort – pushing treatments, tests, products, procedures, physicians, medical centers, books, websites – are likely to be deleted. We don”t accept advertising on this site and are not going to give it away free.
The ability to leave comments expires after a certain period of time. So you may find that you’re unable to leave a comment on an article that is more than a few months old.
You might also like