73 days?! Examining the rate at which medical knowledge doubles and its implications.

Abstract

The issue: 'Knowledge is accumulating faster than human-beings have the capacity to assimilate it'. According to popular estimate, knowledge now doubles every 73 days, roughly the lifespan of a housefly. We need, therefore, to stop thinking of health professional education in terms of transmission of knowledge. Instead, we need to focus training programmes on enabling learners to use the increasingly powerful technologies that are revolutionizing how health care is practiced. And we need to stop using assessments that seem increasingly inauthentic by virtue of precluding learners from using such technologies.

Reflections: Do we? Do we really? This Medical Education Mythology paper explores the origin of the prominent claim that medical knowledge doubles every 73 days, offers an empirical assessment of its veracity and outlines several repercussions that can arise if we accept the estimate without critical appraisal. In doing so, we encourage reflection on the implications of the exponential rate at which knowledge is increasing at the same time as urging caution against panic-driven education practices. In doing so, we conclude that the lack of defensible basis for such an extreme estimate highlights the importance of continued evolution in our education and clinical practices rather than catastrophe-motivated transformation.