[ExI] Study: Retail health clinics as good as doc office

[Stathis Papaioannou]

2009/9/8 John Clark <jonkc at bellsouth.net>:

> I'm not surprised either, I just wish things would move even further in that
> direction. I see no reason a nurse backed up with some good medical
> diagnostic software couldn't do as good a job as most doctors, maybe better;
> it's not like the doctor personally does the blood test or performs the MRI,
> and if you need a X ray the nurse will do it . But the doctor still gets by
> far the largest paycheck. I think the only time a supremely talented human
> being is still needed is in surgery, other than that moderately talented is
> good enough.

I don't know why it's thought that surgery is so hard. It's just a
matter of learning how to do a procedure by practising it a lot of
times. You have to be somewhat good with your hands but that's true of
a lot of jobs that aren't nearly as prestigious or well-paid. The
choosing of candidates for surgical training or other procedural
specialities has almost nothing to do with their aptitude for doing
operations, but rather with their knowledge and diagnostic ability; it
is assumed that they will simply pick up how to do the mechanical part
on the job. The single most important thing when you are choosing a
surgeon, assuming the treatment decision has already been made, is how
many operations of the type you are having he has done before.


-- 
Stathis Papaioannou