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Re: Do MDs need to know physics?



Here are two little anecdotes related to physics and the medical
professions. The first one deals with an X-ray technician, but to me
it illustrates the advantage of teaching people how to think.
1. I knew a fellow who had been suffering from headaches and fainting
spells. He was sent to the hospital for skull X-rays. After the first
exposure, the technician told him the picture was no good and another
would have to be made. The second one was also no good, so the tech
did another one. That one also was bad, so the tech prepared to do yet
another exposure. At this point the patient, who knew something about
X-ray procedures, noticed that he could see a faint red glow when
looking into the aperture of the X-ray tube. He realized he was seeing
the reflection of the tube's filament in the rotating anode, which meant
that the metal filter that's supposed to remove soft X-rays was missing,
causing the images to be overexposed. The tech was just going to keep
repeating a memorized, little-understood procedure because it was
supposed to work. What should have been done after the first bad film
was to think about possible sources of difficulty and try to correct
them before going on. Medical schools can create similar difficulties
with a curriculum based heavily on rote memorization.

2. This is a paraphrase of a story that appeared in the "Campus Comedy"
section of Reader's Digest a few years ago. (I think it was even noted
at that time on phys-l.) In an intro physics class populated by many
premed students, there was grumbling about why they should have to learn
this stuff. What good was it, anyway? The prof responded that his
physics course helped save lives. When asked how the course saved
lives, he said something like 'It keeps ignoramuses out of medical
school.'

Steve Luzader


--
Stephen Luzader
Frostburg State University
Frostburg, MD
http://antoine.fsu.umd.edu/phys/luzader