Doctors Don't Understand Their Own Tests

By Dr. Gerd Gigerenzer
Director for Educational Research at the Max Planck
Institute in Berlin Germany

Dr. Gigerenzer published a book called:
"Better Doctors, Better Patients, Better Decisions"
(MIT Press, Cambridge)

In an interview with the Spiegel Magazine he stated:

Unfortunately doctors get only very poorly educated and are taught to evaluate and calculate the risks of preventive tests. A survey which he conducted showed that 80 to 90 percent of the doctors being asked do not understand the preventive tests they offer to their patients.

There is much misleading information about side effects in these tests which become downplayed through statistical tricks in medical publications. This then leaves doctors and patients poorly informed. For example, 98 percent of all women overrate mammogram tests.

When asked what the patient can do he answered:

Have the courage to ask your doctor and be more critical. Doctors have the tendency to order more tests just to cover their backs in case of future legal problems, rather than being concerned about their patients. This leads to more diagnostic tests and therapies that protect the doctor but harm the patient. He recommended that patients better inform themselves about these procedures. Quite often understandable information is available on the internet.

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