Re: Do MDs need to know physics?

["Donald E. Simanek" <dsimanek@eagle.lhup.edu>]

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 that DNA 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 in a
> 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 too many
> 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

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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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