Certainty
Why are we so obsessed with reducing our uncertainty to near-zero levels? Are we chasing the impossible?
This goal of knowing everything is always riding on our shoulders in medicine. Evidence-based medicine (EBM) is striving towards eventually getting to the "truth" so that we can base our treatments and prognosis on this singular finding. We feel as though we've failed when outcomes are different from what we predicted.
In some ways, I've been looking out to other areas to help find out this "truth" -- the truth as to what is cost-effective, what will save our health care system more money, make it more efficient -- and that once this knowledge is discovered, then it can be relayed and used to trump all the quarrelling voices amongst medical specialties and get us closer to better health for all.
But, if you watch and listen to what the economists and analysts say, there is also uncertainty in their fields. More than that, not even everyone necessarily has the same goal like you can find amongst people working in medicine.
It's incredibly frustrating to say "I don't know" when asked of your opinion or diagnosis or prognosis. You feel foolish if you say it too much. But, perhaps those who never say it are the ones who are really fooling themselves.
