Comments on: What Matters Now: Avoiding Medical Orthodoxy http://onyeije.net/blog/2009/12/28/what-matters-now-avoiding-medical-orthodoxy-2/ A new and improved blog brought to you by Chukwuma Onyeije, MD Sun, 21 Mar 2010 17:12:10 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: Nicholas Fogelson http://onyeije.net/blog/2009/12/28/what-matters-now-avoiding-medical-orthodoxy-2/comment-page-1/#comment-344 Nicholas Fogelson Thu, 31 Dec 2009 21:01:41 +0000 http://onyeije.net/blog/2009/12/28/what-matters-now-avoiding-medical-orthodoxy-2/#comment-344 I could not agree more. I have always enjoyed questioning dogma, often to the chagrin of supervising physicians in my past. Such questioning is the only way to move forward, despite the short term pain it can cause. We are caught between two truisms: "Knowledge is not experience, and experience is not knowledge. Both are necessary for the ultimate goal of wisdom" and "Experience is what allows us to make the same mistakes with greater confidence" Both are true, but we have to be careful we are not in the wrong mindset on certain topics. Skepticism and a willingness to question dogma is a necessary part of that. I could not agree more. I have always enjoyed questioning dogma, often to the chagrin of supervising physicians in my past. Such questioning is the only way to move forward, despite the short term pain it can cause.

We are caught between two truisms:

“Knowledge is not experience, and experience is not knowledge. Both are necessary for the ultimate goal of wisdom”

and

“Experience is what allows us to make the same mistakes with greater confidence”

Both are true, but we have to be careful we are not in the wrong mindset on certain topics. Skepticism and a willingness to question dogma is a necessary part of that.

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