Posted by cubic_me on December 5, 2004, at 14:14:17
In reply to Another perspective » ed_uk, posted by Racer on December 5, 2004, at 10:46:10
I'm at med school in the UK, and it is true that we don't learn enough about meds, especially at the university I am at. Racer, I think that it is a little unfair to say that we are lazy - some of us are simply not given the time to learn. I am in my 4th year of med school and have had a total of 3 one hour lectures on pharmacology. On the wards doctors joke about how little pharmacology knowledge we have, and that definately has to be rectified.
There are hundreds and hundreds of drugs out there - too many for every doctor to learn the actions, indications, contraindications and side effects of all of them. Of course the common ones should be known thoroughly and most known at surface level, but I think that the specialist drugs only need to be learned in detail by those who are going to prescribe them - and if you don't know about them, you have no business prescribing them. I think some docs have trouble referring people when the problem is outside thier expertese.
Medicals students have *alot* to learn - apparently there are approximately 5000 new words that we learn in the medical curriculum for a start. Sometimes we may need to refer to a book to refresh our minds, who wouldn't?
I'm sorry for being a bit defensive about the laziness issue Racer, I'm not having a go at you. I just feel that I work really hard, but haven't been given the resources to learn pharmacology adequatley.
poster:cubic_me
thread:424724
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/social/20041202/msgs/424796.html