We are graduating fourth year medical students early to help with the COVID battles. They don’t have a licence to practice medicine and don’t have an internship to go to. There are surgeons, psychiatrists, and well -intentioned specialists of all types on the front lines. They are not trained in what you might need.
As a family physician with three decades of teaching I have learned that the biggest challenge all providers (MD, DO, PA, NP) face is knowing what they don’t know. Good intentions do not routinely result in adequate care. I have watched videos of doctors pleading with the public and the President to prescribe malaria medicines that have now been proven to cause harm and death. My online physician blogger peers are taking these medicines themselves believing they are preventing disease. Some will die because they don’t know what they don’t know.
It takes years to decades for a doctor to be really good at what we constantly train for — competence. It is OK to ask your doctor if he is sure he is doing the right thing when it comes to your health.
Bio — Navy SEAL turned Army physician turned community family physician — Author of Swords and Saints — A Doctor’s Journey www.swordsandsaints.com