Presented with uncertain symptoms
the doctor, a diligent scientist,
checked every bit of data that had ever been established:
evidence-based and randomised controlled.
This empathic doctor [a natural worrier]
re-checked every last bit of data and every guideline
[“Guidelines are not Tramlines”]
Always learning from the life of others
the doctor realised that there is more to evidence
than randomised controlled data.
It is by living that we learn:
or have I “perceived” this wrongly?
Footnote:
It is not uncommon to come across senior doctors describing reports of harmful effects of medical interventions as “perceived”. These same doctors then insist that the most important evidence is based on Randomised Controlled Trials.
This poem may be perceived as an ‘attack’ upon evidence. It is not. Evidence comes in all forms, and evidence-based-medicine, although necessary, cannot fully represent experience.