Bringing Information to Light
When most people call an expert today, they are already getting a second opinion. The first opinion was Google. The experts might be mechanics, exterminators, or doctors, being consulted only after Google answered “why does my car squeak when I turn,” “how do you get rid of roaches,” and “why is there pain under my ribs?”
My personal searching about roaches and car squeaks yielded articles and YouTube videos that ranged from ads for professionals to detailed How To’s. There were articles for the super uninformed and those who could take apart a car. But when you search for medical information your options are either
Technical research articles on PubMed, or,
Accessible-to-anyone blogs that do not contain any real information
This is a problem, because nature abhors a vacuum.
People have grown accustomed to having access to information, and yet most medical information is kept locked up out of a misguided fear that it will be misinterpreted. When real information is not provided, quacks and worse will step in to provide it.
I have been thinking about this problem a lot as COVID19 has shocked me with how little people seem to understand medicine. There’s been a lot of justified screaming from medical providers to “Trust us!” but not nearly enough time taken to understand where the gaps are in people’s knowledge and fill those gaps.
As someone who has built a career translating science from technical teams to everyone else, I assure you that this effort is well worth society’s time. Failing to untangle people’s confusion breeds resentment and harmful behavior, not deference.
My six year old child can explain the mechanisms of an allergic reaction. Not because he’s a genius, but because I stopped to explain it to him. Before that explanation, his brain had filled in the void with incorrect and terrifying thoughts. And until I explained how his medicines worked, he fought me on every dose.
Given that the internet offers information only at the 4th grade reading level and the medical doctor level, I am embarking on a journey to write the in-between explanations.
Scientists are down in the dirt, mucking around with new ideas and discoveries. Well-informed lay-people are the plants that translate those discoveries into commonly accepted ideas. The same way that plants draw-up water from the dirt and bring it into the sun. That water eventually evaporates to blend with the air everyone breathes.
We are making discoveries faster, but we are not translating those discoveries into widespread knowledge faster. But we need to. Americans are sicker than ever, largely because they are kept in the dark on our ever deepening understanding of health.
I’m not a doctor so I can’t help on the front lines, but I can help by translating technical jargon into understandable information that helps people make healthier decisions.
Obviously I don’t know everything about every field of medicine! I’m just trying to make a dent in the problem. I will gather up medical opinion and present it without talking down to you. I’ll cite everything so you can dig further, and run everything by experts for accuracy.
I have my pet topics, but drop me a line and tell me what else you want explained. If enough people ask the same question, I’ll make it happen.
