It is a big mistake to think of doctors as scientists (at least the ones who treat us, not research doctors). They really aren't even engineers. The closest analogy is that they are like auto mechanics taking their information from shop manuals plus a lot of guesswork.
My brother is a doctor and I am an engineer so I have to admit; that gave me a chuckle. :-)
To be fair, the one thing to consider is that doctors have to see multiple patients a day and depending on the load, it can be quite a blur. Engineers usually can focus on one problem at a time and work towards resolution of that problem. So we can operate more linearly. Doctors often have to multitask and are often dealing with minimal information.
From my perspective, I have actually had a couple of really good doctors in the past fifteen years. My doctor when I was still in California worked with me to discover that I was hypothyroid. I was having symptoms that almost seemed like allergies. In fact, I had visited the doctor assuming that was the problem. But when I described the symptoms, she was suspicious of that assertion and had some blood work done for me. And lo and behold, she was correct and my thyroid numbers were out of whack. I went on medication and I am fine now. My more recent doctor in Florida is actually quite a jovial fellow and spends time listening during my annual physicals. Mind you, other than hypothyroid issues, I don't have any other major health problems other than some early onset prostate issues. Used some meds for that initially but they didn't help so I eventually had surgery. Not perfect, but good enough of an effect that the outcome works for me.
Edited by Admin, : Fix typos.
Edited by AdminPhat, : No reason given.
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