{"title":"The Scientific Doctor.","authors":"Lex Rutten","doi":"10.1055/s-0045-1802339","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Medical professionals do not sufficiently realise how much scientific responsibility they take when certified science fails. They must make the best choice for the individual patient based on their own experience and that of their colleagues. This 'next best choice' requires basic knowledge about heuristic bias and statistics. The best solutions based on experience could then be classified according to their reliability and expected effectiveness. This requires probability and conditional probability calculations that result in Bayesian updating of the likelihood of individual cures. Practitioners could have considerable influence on medical decision-making by applying Bayesian probability. The high quality and large quantity of combined experience can ultimately be translated into treatment algorithms, to be tested in daily practice. To achieve this, we need better scientific training of practitioners and a suitable infrastructure of the professional community.</p>","PeriodicalId":13227,"journal":{"name":"Homeopathy","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.2000,"publicationDate":"2025-03-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Homeopathy","FirstCategoryId":"3","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1055/s-0045-1802339","RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q3","JCRName":"INTEGRATIVE & COMPLEMENTARY MEDICINE","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Medical professionals do not sufficiently realise how much scientific responsibility they take when certified science fails. They must make the best choice for the individual patient based on their own experience and that of their colleagues. This 'next best choice' requires basic knowledge about heuristic bias and statistics. The best solutions based on experience could then be classified according to their reliability and expected effectiveness. This requires probability and conditional probability calculations that result in Bayesian updating of the likelihood of individual cures. Practitioners could have considerable influence on medical decision-making by applying Bayesian probability. The high quality and large quantity of combined experience can ultimately be translated into treatment algorithms, to be tested in daily practice. To achieve this, we need better scientific training of practitioners and a suitable infrastructure of the professional community.
期刊介绍:
Homeopathy is an international peer-reviewed journal aimed at improving the fundamental understanding and clinical practice of homeopathy by publishing relevant high-quality original research articles, reviews, and case reports. It also promotes commentary and debate on matters of topical interest in homeopathy.