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On Fri, 13 Mar 1998, Ed Schweber wrote:
I wonder if a physician needs to know much of any basic science.
I'm in agreement with most everything Ed says in his message. Some of
my
pre-med students seemed a bit annoyed recently when I compared medical
people to auto mechanics, saying that a doctor is like a "mechanic of
the
body". But in the minds of most people, doctors are "scientists" in
the
same category as geologists, chemists, and physicists. It just
indicates
that most people haven't a clue what science is, and what
distinguishes it
from technology. And we don't get that message across to students very
well.
And does a doctor even really need to know that much biology.Would a
typical doctor be much hampered in her trade if he didn't know thatDNA was
a double helix or the details of the Krebs cycle?
He or she is probably too busy wondering about his or her own gender.
:-)
The more basic question is whether the thinking styles learned ina
physics class are transformed into more generalized thinking skills.
And we should ask ourselves whether the things we do in physics class
are
demonstrating and encouraging that sort of thinking skills, or whether
we
are allowing students to succeed in the traditional way medical
students
do--by CRAMMING.
But this is just the opinion of someone who has been seeing toomany
doctors lately.
That will do it! I speak from recent experience. One doctor recently
said
something perceptive relating to my problem with heel pain and how
best to
treat it. I'd gotten different advice from several other doctors, and
he
was giving me several possible treatments also. Then he smiled and
said,
"You know, when doctors have several alternative treatments for a
medical
problem, or disagree on the best treatment, that's a clue that they
really
don't yet know what's the cause of it. If they did know the cause,
they'd
know exactly what's the best treatment." You don't often get that much
honesty from doctors.
-- Donald
.....................................................................
Dr. Donald E. Simanek Office: 717-893-2079
Professor of Physics FAX: 717-893-2048
Lock Haven University, Lock Haven, PA. 17745
dsimanek@eagle.lhup.edu http://www.lhup.edu/~dsimanek
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