Medical folklore and quackery....

It has been very humid lately, which set me to thinking about those people who say they can tell when a storm is coming because their joints ache. This led me to folklore in medicine. My father, who was a psychologist, said that since all people have minds all people think they are psychologists. Well, since all people have bodies all people think they are body experts.
Au contraire.
My 30 years of experience as a clinician have shown me that the average adult is woefully ignorant of how his/her body works. If he/she has no idea what the normal functioning of the body looks like how can he/she know if some "remedy" for an ailment makes sense or might even be dangerous?
They don't.
That's where nurses come in, in many cases. Patients are often afraid to ask their doctors questions (I won't go there now....) so one of a nurse's most important jobs is education. As Chamberlain students begin their road to the BSN they will work with me on what we call "basic sciences." They are basic because they are required to understand health and disease and therefore to be an effective medical professional.
Medical folklore and quackery cost patients millions of dollars each year, and can kill. We want patients to be well educated so that they can participate fully in their care.
That is why we need to know this stuff! And "we" includes patients, too!
When in doubt, look up the DATA; don't rely on the magic box (pictured above) sent to you by Cousin Jane or sold on the Internet.
Knowledge is power, especially when it comes to health. Health professionals hold our knowledge in trust for the public, and should share it and the science behind it freely.