607：For Doctors, Age May Be More Than a Number

For Doctors, Age May Be More Than a Number By Haider Javed Warraich When I went on Terry Gross’s radio show last year, the very first question she asked me was one I get asked during my work as a doctor all the time: “Can I ask how old you are?” “Twenty-nine.” “So when family members or loved ones see you,” she went on, “do they ever look at you and go, ‘You’re so young, how can I trust you?’” In many professions, a premium is placed on experience, with age often a surrogate for expertise — but probably no profession places more primacy on age than medicine. Nothing is more reassuring to patients than seeing a silver-haired doctor walk up to their bedside. To this day, medicine is largely an apprenticeship, with young physicians huddling around older physicians, straining to catch every word, so as to not lose a nugget of wisdom. Experience is even written into our dress codes: Students in many medical schools cannot wear long white coats, unlike their seniors; in some, even medical residents can’t have coats that extend much below the waist. Yet, as the field evolves into one where data and evidence are beginning to outweigh anecdotes and opinions, one thing is becoming increasingly clear: In medicine, a lack of experience may not actually be a bad thing. A paper published last year by researchers at Harvard showed something very striking — patients being taken care of by younger doctors were less likely to die. Younger, less experienced physicians are also less likely to order unnecessary tests in both men and women, to face disciplinary action from state medical boards or be cited for improper prescription of opioid painkillers and other controlled substances. These findings are far from isolated: The majority of research shows a consistent, positive relationship between lack of experience and better quality of clinical care. … https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/06/opinion/sunday/for-doctors-age-may-be-more-than-a-number.html