Tag: Guidelines

Dichotomous thinking and uncertainty in medicine and science

Medicine is by its very nature uncertain. Unfortunately, humans don't deal well with uncertainty, and our tendency towards dichotomous thinking leads us to think that if we're not absolutely certain about something we don't know anything.

/ November 11, 2019
Quackery duck

The Oncology Association of Naturopathic Physicians publishes Principles of Care Guidelines. Not surprisingly, they aren’t science-based.

Last week, the Oncology Association of Naturopathic Physicians (OncANP) published "principles of care" guidelines. Try as they might, naturopathic oncologists tried to represent their specialty as evidence-based. Unsurprisingly, they failed.

/ March 18, 2019

New Blood Pressure Guidelines: Why Are Previously Normal BPs Now Classified as High Blood Pressure?

Under the new blood pressure guidelines, more people are classified as having high blood pressure; but the treatment emphasis is on lifestyle changes, not medications.

/ December 19, 2017

The American Cancer Society’s new mammography guidelines: Déjà vu all over again

One of the things that feels the weirdest about having done the same job, having been in the same specialty, for a longer and longer time is that you frequently feel, as the late, great Yogi Berra would have put it, déjà vu all over again. This is particularly true in science and medicine, where the same issues come up again and...

/ October 21, 2015

New Cholesterol Guidelines

On November 15, the American College of Cardiology and the American Heart Association released an updated guideline for the use of statins to prevent and treat atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD). The full report is available online. It has already generated a lot of controversy. The news media have characterized it as a “huge departure” from previous practice and have trumpeted that it...

/ November 26, 2013

Clinical Practice Guidelines: Cholesterol Tests for Children?

The American Academy of Family Physicians journal American Family Physician (AFP) has a feature called Journal Club that I’ve mentioned before.  Three physicians examine a published article, critique it, discuss whether to believe it or not, and put it into perspective. In the September 15 issue  the journal club analyzed an article that critiqued the process for developing clinical practice guidelines. It discussed...

/ October 9, 2012

The Mammogram Post-Mortem

The Mammogram Post Mortem Steve Novella whimsically opined on a recent phone call that irrationality must convey a survival advantage for humans. I’m afraid he has a point. It’s much easier to scare people than to reassure them, and we have a difficult time with objectivity in the face of a good story. In fact, our brains seem to be hard wired...

/ December 10, 2009