Comments on: About those pills http://www.medrants.com/archives/2195 Contemplating medicine and the health care system Wed, 17 Mar 2010 23:16:37 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: dr. charles http://www.medrants.com/archives/2195/comment-page-1#comment-7309 dr. charles Wed, 22 Dec 2004 02:36:50 +0000 http://medrants.com/archives/2004/12/15/about-those-pills/#comment-7309 excellent post. one good thing about the "consumerization" of health care is that a lot of patients are becoming more savvy about their medical decisions. i think part of our duty is also to steer them towards reputable and trustworthy sources of information on the internet. i reccomend familydoctor.org as a start. excellent post. one good thing about the “consumerization” of health care is that a lot of patients are becoming more savvy about their medical decisions. i think part of our duty is also to steer them towards reputable and trustworthy sources of information on the internet. i reccomend familydoctor.org as a start.

]]> By: RGL http://www.medrants.com/archives/2195/comment-page-1#comment-7005 RGL Wed, 15 Dec 2004 15:33:04 +0000 http://medrants.com/archives/2004/12/15/about-those-pills/#comment-7005 We are, indeed, an overmedicated society. And that's because we doctors overprescribe those pills. It's time for us to dispel the notion that those pills are magic bullets, which many patients have blindly accepted. No wonder then they think we are not good doctors if we don't write those prescrptions. The experience noted in this essay is not foreign to a lot of us who felt the same relief, as the patients did, after we got rid of their bagfuls of drugs enough to stock a small pharmacy. This is not to denigrate those pills, which many of our patients need. We just need to be more prudent and to learn the lesson that the pills are not the end-all of that complex relationship we call treatment. We are, indeed, an overmedicated society. And that’s because we doctors overprescribe those pills.

It’s time for us to dispel the notion that those pills are magic bullets, which many patients have blindly accepted. No wonder then they think we are not good doctors if we don’t write those prescrptions.

The experience noted in this essay is not foreign to a lot of us who felt the same relief, as the patients did, after we got rid of their bagfuls of drugs enough to stock a small pharmacy.

This is not to denigrate those pills, which many of our patients need. We just need to be more prudent and to learn the lesson that the pills are not the end-all of that complex relationship we call treatment.

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