James Alexander Michie: Doctors put their patients at risk because they are not really good at reading laboratory results | Washington Post
What the tests don’t show Doctors are surprisingly bad at reading lab results. It’s putting us all at risk. Source: The Washington Post
It is incredible to think that a doctor puts his patients at risk because the moment he makes the reading of the laboratory results he does it badly, but if it happens and more than what people could imagine.
It is important to mention that every year, doctors in this country order more than 4 billion tests. Many of them have become more sophisticated and easier to execute as technology has advanced, and they are essential to help doctors understand what may be wrong with their patients. Despite this, according to an investigation carried out, it has been obtained that many of the doctors are wrong.
Results obtained from the research
According to the research carried out, it has been obtained that many doctors misinterpret the results of the tests or think that the tests are more precise than they are. Doctors, especially, do not understand how false positives work, which means that they make crucial medical decisions, sometimes called life or death decisions, based on incorrect assumptions that patients have diseases they probably do not have.
Read more on James Alexander Michie‘s Medium blog
Source: The Washington Post