Next millenial group to blame: millenial doctors who rely too much on technology

The use of technology doesn't really bother me. Like the old saying goes, work smart, not hard. We are now able to operate in a much more efficient manner and there's nothing wrong with that. This, however, is kinda scary:

quote:

---

"We absolutely consult Wikipedia, not the library to find the most up-to-date medical research," she explains.

---

quote:

---

"If you want to do the whole thing by video stream, you can," she says. "I would wake up at 10 a.m., work out for an hour or so, get some lunch and then video stream for 6 hours and then go to happy hour. It actually was not that bad."

---

That sounds typical of a Med Student. They just don't physically go to class. No biggie.

quote:

---

We absolutely consult Wikipedia, not the library to find the most up-to-date medical research," she explains.

---

Practicing physicians use actual scientific literature to guide therapy not wikipedia.

It's easy when your a med student or junior resident to pull up Wikipedia for quick primer before rounding but when it's your arse and license on the line you better have a better source then wikipedia guiding your decisions.

And nobody I know uses wikipedia. We all use Uptodate.

An intern resident doesn't really know jack. Once they've had a few years doing actual work, it will change. They don't know the severity of a malpractice suit yet (bc medical school does not prepare you for the business of Medicine), but they will soon learn.

to be completely fair, they may mean they use it to find references and then seek out the actual references to evaluate independently.

I've been guilty of this more than once for particularly obscure cases

This individual was probably just dropped from her physicians group as statements like that will jack up that malpractice insurance rate.

I would never seek treatment from this person. Even basic researchers know not to trust Wikipedia.

quote:

---

I would never seek treatment from this person. Even basic researchers know not to trust Wikipedia.

---

From what I did with research papers in college, you never actually reference Wikipedia, you just reference the articles it references. It's a good place to start finding sources.

quote:

---

And nobody I know uses wikipedia. We all use Uptodate.

---

UpToDate is my favorite resource. As far as relying on technology, years and years ago, doctors were faced with doing something they weren't sure about vs going to the library and digging up a publication or reading part of a textbook. When it came down to time-sensitive stuff, brushing up on something simply couldn't happen until after they had made some decision. This day and age, it's much easier to fact-check yourself before making decisions in situations you aren't fully comfortable with.

Those that replace actual knowledge with Wikipedia "consults" are doing their patients a major disservice. And some people do rely more on pre-set differential lists (whether in a student/residency manual or online resource) and other people's concept maps/algorithms rather than doing actual thinking. It's not necessarily a bad thing, but taking the thought out of patient care usually isn't a good thing.