| Not saying I disagree with your sentiment, but the idea behind evidence-based medicine is that it's effectiveness can be demonstrated through a randomized control trial. Experience-based medicine cannot. So, it's tricky because we want to identify those treatments that actually work based on objective clinical data, as well as those that clinicians have anecdotally found effective based on experience. And do we want treatments that have been demonstrated to work, or treatments that are based on a provider's best judgement? That's not an easy question to answer. The benefits of demonstrated effect are balanced with those you describe of the experience-based approach. It's a gray area. You just can't AI-away an ER doc (at least not with current tech). Something's got to interview, intubate, suture, palpate, and prescribe all those bleeding, festering, diabetic masses flowing into the ER like the tide of the Thames. Note the downside, an ER doc is a very exhausted, burned-out human, prone to error. I'm sorry about your acquaintance, I'd be pissed too. You definitely have a right to be! |