The Next Big Idea Daily
S35 E2: "Random Acts of Medicine: The Hidden Forces That Sway Doctors, Impact Patients, and Shape Our Health" by Anupam B. Jena & Christopher Worsham
Oct 3, 2023
Medical professionals Anupam B. Jena and Christopher Worsham discuss the hidden side of medicine, exploring how random events can profoundly impact our health. Topics include the correlation between birth month and flu shot rates, the idea that less medical care can sometimes lead to better outcomes, factors affecting our perception of a good doctor, and the influence of left-digit bias in medical decision-making.
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Quick takeaways
- Random events can act as natural experiments, offering insights into health outcomes.
- Less medical care can sometimes be more effective, challenging the assumption that more care is always better.
Deep dives
The Influence of Randomness on Health
Randomness and chance occurrences can have a significant impact on our health, teaching us lessons that we can learn from. For instance, someone may be diagnosed with cancer or be involved in a car accident without any identifiable risk factors. These random events can act as natural experiments, offering insights into health outcomes. A study on the timing of annual physicals and flu shots found that children born in certain months were more likely to receive the flu shot and have better health outcomes. The study also highlighted how sometimes less medical care can be more effective, as evidenced by a strike in Israel where mortality rates remained the same during a period of reduced medical services.
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