We learn early in our education about the five senses - visual, auditory, gustatory, tactile, and olfactory. This processing of information from the “external environment” is termed exteroception. Intermittently, salient sights, sounds, tastes, smells, or touches enter our awareness but for the most part exteroception happens subconsciously. However, the brain not only monitors the external… Continue reading Feelings Felt
Category: Evidence Based Medicine
The Art of Progress
As I wrote in my last essay, real world evidence (RWE) generated from “big” real world data (RWD) is upending the hegemony of traditional randomized controlled trials and the evidence hierarchy. RWE is being used for epidemiological evidence to identify targets for drug development, for safety surveillance of approved medical products, for examining changes in patterns… Continue reading The Art of Progress
Shattered Mirrors
Ibn Khaldun, the 15th century North African historian, wrote “the past resembles the future more than one drop of water resembles another.” Implying that the patterns and lessons of the past are applicable to the present and can be applied to predict the future. Explanations and predictions are the outputs of science and the scientific… Continue reading Shattered Mirrors
Evidence of, Evidence for
In the human world, ideas and concepts are more robust and impactful than anything organic or material. Concepts and ideas often outlive their originators. As culture, language and their embedded concepts multiply and diverge, exchange and reconvene, they shape our world in unpredictable ways. One concept that has evolved to loom over all aspects of… Continue reading Evidence of, Evidence for
Intuitions in the Wild
In reality, there are probably no wild places remaining. The watering hole has a water tank and fences, the lions have identification tags, and are largely habituated to the gawking tourists with binoculars. Analogously, the emergency department has protocols, clinical guidelines, and triage scores. Both environments are semi-wild; neither completely open and wild nor fully closed… Continue reading Intuitions in the Wild
A Tale of a Springbok
In my last essay, I wrote about the bold (if foolish) springbok who left the safety of the herd and made his way to the watering hole on a sweltering Namibian day. Although he seemed to be aware and on the lookout for theoretical lions as he episodically and intently scanned the periphery, he was… Continue reading A Tale of a Springbok
S-Fxn 