Greetings from Hollyweird.
Presently I am cooped up in a freezing conference room, breathing stale air conditioned oxygen, and drinking awful coffee at the crack of dawn. Its not all bad right, a trip to California? Well…I am here for a medical conference. I am here to brush up on my continuing, never ending, medical education, and NOT lounging on the beach, as you were suspecting.
Life long constant education is a good thing, right? How many other professions require its practitioners to continue with active learning to maintain their credentials? I am not talking about just reading a book or watching a video, but actually having to take exams yearly, then a major exam every 10 yrs to make sure that we are practicing up-to-date medicine.
Practically speaking, its a pain in my a$$. Come on, after “x” number of years of practice, and seeing thousand of patients, surely, we know all we need to know from experience? Almost daily, I see some docs doing some crazy stuff and it does make me wonder.
Medicine is always changing and evolving. Constantly, our theories on how BEST to treat change over time, and those changes can be quite radical. Our goal is to offer the best treatment possible, and clearly this is important.
This sometimes differs from some of those other hospitals (names go unmentioned) I deal with. A general sample of doctors, clearly proves that we are NOT “on the same page” when it comes to best/ appropriate treatments. This is frustrating and probably bad news for the patient. Surely you would like to know, that: your doc knows what’s going on and is up to date with basic knowledge and current advances.
This explains why you may hear differing opinions about your therapy from the “doc in the box” and something different from ‘us’.
Well, rest assured, I’ll be studying this summer. I have a big comprehensive exam waiting for me at home, and what “fun” it will be studying.
Just like the “good” old days.
By Dr. DMS
