I spotted this in another thread. Posted by Milkfairy, I hope they won't mind me sharing it again so that everyone can see it. It is "A Guide for Non-scientists - how to read a scientific paper in five steps", by Prof Lauren Ball and can be found in Twitter and Reddit if this image does not work for you.
These days many of us turn to Google , Wikipedia and other online resources for information about medical matters. But it can be difficult to work out which information is reliable.
I hope this short guide is helpful for anyone who wants to find information which will help them make informed decisions about their health and other matters.
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fishonabike
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hi thanks for this, really interested as currently deciphering papers on exercise stress echo findings for myocardial bridging. But I can’t read it clearly any chance you could provide the link to Milkfairy actual post. Tried zooming taking glasses off and nos3 pressed against iPad but can only make some of it out. 🤓Thanks
Thanks for pointing me towards this - any chance that you could give me tips on how you added an image which allows enlargement? i could not work out how to do that
Interesting. There is a saying 'most (computer) models are wrong but some are useful" and also a research paper that finds that very many science papers (especially Health and climate science) were also wrong or selective. Sometimes the author doesn't set out that they are funded by a firm/organisation that would benefit from the findings.
The Royal Society founded in 1659 has a Latin Motto which translates as "Take nobody's word as final. " So with all science papers look at it with healthy scepticism and if possible, if the results are important to you, try to double check.
Having said that, any guide that enables the layman to interpret the often excessive gobblygedook is welcome. Trying to interpret Health results from a Cardioloist is often an art!
Hi EthelI can fully understand your Junior Doctor son's concern and his frustration over patients using 'Dr Google' when they are not medically trained.
However unless waiting lists for appointments and investigations are shortened and appointment times extended to enable proper discussions to take place between patients and medical staff, people will continue to visit Dr Google because there are few other places to turn to when you have no one to talk to and you are concerned and worried. We all just have to hope that people are able to filter out the rubbish from the relevant information, and don't endanger themselves by following stupid suggestions while they are waiting for appointments!
Likewise most Patients hate Doctors / Consultants who
- After a long waiting time for an appointment either don't ask or don't listen to a person about what pain they are in, how they feel, what their concerns are or how the illness or pain is affecting thir lives
- Are rude
- Are dismissive
- Treat us as if we are stupid
- Have no empathy or compassion
- Decide what tests, investigations or treatment needs to done, but don't bother fully explaining the processes and / or timescales to a patient (or their relatives)
- Prescribe a medication but don't bother to give a follow-up appointment to review whether or not it is working
- Prescribe a medication without bothering to explain what it is, what it does, or going through the potential side-effects
- Prescribe a medicen without clearly identifying that it might make other existing conditions worse perhaps even to the point that it is detremental to the patients lifesyle or quality of life
- Rarely consider the 'whole person'
- Rarely identify to a patient that there might be a choice of an alternative test, treatment, or medication even avaliable
NOTE I am NOT suggesting in any way that your son is at all like the above, but this forum is full of complaints and examples of such treatment from Doctors and Consultants regularly occurring, and I think this also pushes a lot of people towards "Dr Goggle" as they attempt to find out what the Doctor hasn't discussed (or perhaps hasn't had time to discuss).
he’s doing a PhD aswell about early diagnosis for pancreatic cancer linked to diabetes plus on call general surgery he’s been studying now for 11 years and from next February he will have another 2years before becoming a Consultant. Is
As I said previously my comment was NOT in any way aimed at saying or suggesting your Son was or is like the examples i cited. I was merely trying to identify the experiences that lots of people have had that often encourage them to look towards the Internet.
Hi 1234_6 - well said, I second all of those, I would add also the ones who specialise in sarcasm. I have a metal allergy, quite common, probably nickel, as I told the heart surgeon. 'OOOH I never heard of that" was the response. Ignorance or sarcasm, either way it does not inspire confidence. I got my dermatological test after 4 months and 1 refusal, and its on my record now as severe nickel allergy, also got plastic wires not surgical steel - which contains nickel. I can only imagine how long it would take to convince them it was nickel had I had an adverse reaction. Average time for any action before COVID, according to peer reviewed literature in the BMJ found on Dr Google, was 23 months of intense, bloody, itching and unhealed open wounds. When notifying me of my dermatology test results the surgeon listed all these dangers to me and when I said yes, I know, that is why I told you, he added " Ooh you know EVERYTHING!!!" I think they are trained not to believe much of what we say, and I don't think you get to be head of the team without being a skilled people wrangler. I relied on the professionalism of the whole team and the fact that they are closely monitored and keen to maintain their success rates. I had a good outcome, but I take them all with a pinch of salt now. Nul points for communication skills.
That's really interesting that your son is doing a PhD in pancreatic cancer. I lost my mum to this cancer and, unlike a lot of other cancer's, the survival rate has not improved at all over the years mainly because of late diagnosis. My mum was also diabetic but was told there was no link at all between them! I'm so glad that this cancer is getting more attention these days, particularly as we were told there's a family link (much as breast cancer runs in the family) my sister has just been told she's pre-diabetic, so it is a bit concerning!
I wish him good luck for the future & his PhD, as he will already know it is one of the worse cancers to have. My mum was poorly for .well over a year, probably longer, before she was diagnosed. Strangely enough she did have a scan but the machine was faulty and the only image they managed to capture was the pancreas which they said that was fine. A few months later she had her diagnosis, the tumor was at the back of the pancreas and wasn't visible!
thanks for your kind words, at present there isn’t any early detection for this cruel fast acting cancer and symptoms don’t always show until it’s too late.
That is a lovely resource to use while trying to make sense of research studies! It sparks us to ask questions—lots of questions—and to read with a more analytical mindset.
For example, one question asked about the size of the study sample. Were there 20 participants or 10,000? In general, findings from a study are more generalizable to the entire population when you have more people taking part in the study. So, these are great questions that we can ask ourselves.
That is so true! I taught for over 30 years, and sometimes I had to be very creative in finding a new way to present information so that everyone could learn. I’m probably totally out of practice with that now. 😊
I don't think they teach like that any more Smitty. They're too busy trying to put everyone into boxes!. The graduate trainees we have at work only know the answers if the questions are asked a certain way, ask a different way and they can't work out the answer ... even when it would be the same. It's sad to see that the thinking process, imagination, and common sense appear to be on the decline in the younger generation.
IMO its down to communication. If you communicate with a real person there are all sorts of nuances and give and take that are needed to get your point over or understand what's going on, and that teaches us to think laterally. If you spend half your life in front of a computer screen like many people I can imagine you become very narrow in your thoughts and appreciation, which is one of the reasons why we have nerds. So in short God help Us in 30 years time, although I won't be here to be proved otherwise. 😆
Yes, it truly is sad for all of us—as a society! You may be right 😃—I am older now and things do seem to have changed in teaching. Every day, when my grandson stops by after school or before his job at McDonalds (his first job), I always ask, “What did you learn today?” He turned 16 in February.
It is hard for me to hear his answers some days when he talks about completing worksheets with 5-10 questions or having a free day in class to talk with his peers or scroll on his phone. When I taught high school, it seemed that we always tried to teach content. The administration would have gone “crazy” if we had given a free day. Lol 😆
Today, his last day of school, I explained that there is something to learn in every class or in every experience. It is his responsibility to learn the lesson. I guess that it can be difficult to have a retired teacher/professor for a grandma. ❤️
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