- © 2008 Canadian Medical Association or its licensors
I was interested in Dan Gardner's musings about why the media may prefer bad news to good news, and why stories matter more than statistics.1 I believe that something similar operates in the minds of many patients, for whom anecdotes matter more than evidence.
Many of my patients will not consider taking a therapy supported by evidence (e.g., ramipril for cardiac risk reduction), but they will gladly pay for and consume products supported by testimonials (e.g., glyconutrients to improve health). They bring me brochures and compact discs with glowing accounts of how a person's life was changed by a particular product, hoping that I will recommend this treatment to my other patients.
I believe that a patient's decision to accept or reject a particular therapy depends more on how they feel about it than what they think about it. Moving stories influence our feelings more than cold, hard numbers and facts. How can we bridge the gap between the evidence-based physician and the testimonial-based patient?
Footnotes
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Competing interests: None declared.
REFERENCE
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