{"id":45806,"date":"2019-10-01T15:53:35","date_gmt":"2019-10-01T14:53:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/?p=45806"},"modified":"2019-10-16T09:48:59","modified_gmt":"2019-10-16T08:48:59","slug":"liyang-pan-medical-education-the-tyranny-of-guidelines-and-the-single-best-answer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/2019\/10\/01\/liyang-pan-medical-education-the-tyranny-of-guidelines-and-the-single-best-answer\/","title":{"rendered":"Liyang Pan: Medical education\u2014the tyranny of guidelines and the single best answer"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"standfirst\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Simplification has a place in medical education, says Liyang Pan, but shouldn&#8217;t be at the cost of teaching students about medicine&#8217;s complexity<\/span><\/p>\n<p><!--more--><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">After years of running the gauntlet of exams, drilling various clinical scenarios with my peers, and poring over seemingly bottomless question banks, I graduated from medical school. My medical school, like most in the UK, exposed us to a variety of specialties within a short space of time, and relied on a pool of multiple choice questions and a few clinical scenarios to test each cohort at the end of each year. Material was condensed to fit this format and complex issues were reduced to more manageable headlines. Consequently, I have been instilled with the idea of a single \u201cright answer\u201d and a \u201ccorrect thing to do,\u201d rather than the murky grey reality of a few \u201cpossible right answers\u201d and \u201cpotentially good things to do in something similar to this situation.\u201d This is not only unrealistic, it also stifles discussion and debate.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The focus of medical education is now rote learning national guidelines, with few caveats or critique. Thorny unresolved issues become a single line on a page to memorise, with little elaboration before or after. The concepts of ambiguity or the unknown within these pages were not introduced to me or my peers. Students, myself included, use a combination of acronyms and aide memoires rather than understanding that guidelines are recommendations or questioning their underlying evidence.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">When the guidelines for asthma management from the British Thoracic Society and the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence were published, there were some key <a href=\"https:\/\/thorax.bmj.com\/content\/73\/3\/293\">discrepancies in the diagnosis and management algorithms<\/a>.<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> In stuffy libraries across the country, we wondered which one to memorise for exams rather than discuss the merits of one or the other. My clinical years were largely filled with piously memorising recommendations such as these, which were considered a series of manifest \u201cfacts.\u201d There was little acknowledgement that \u201cthese are the guidelines, but really it\u2019s still up for debate.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">This issue is illustrated by the diagnosis and management of sepsis, and its effects reach beyond university examination halls. Medical students faced with a doctor asking them about sepsis have a set script, which is adapted from <a href=\"https:\/\/link.springer.com\/article\/10.1007\/s00134-018-5085-0\">the Surviving Sepsis Campaign<\/a><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">, and any deviation results in loss of easy marks:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201cSepsis is diagnosed when two of the three qSOFA criteria are fulfilled. To manage, start the sepsis six within one hour. Take three and give three. Take blood cultures, urine output, and lactate. Give fluids, oxygen, and antibiotics. Call a senior.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">This patter is embedded in the minds of medical students up and down the country, with the nifty acronym of BUFALO attached. Yet, in my time at university, there was no conversation considering the quality or existence of evidence supporting the use of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pmc\/articles\/PMC5192569\/\">qSOFA<\/a> over <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pmc\/articles\/PMC4947518\/\">SIRS<\/a> for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pubmed\/28712645\">diagnosis<\/a><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">,<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nejm.org\/doi\/full\/10.1056\/NEJMclde1815472\">one hour window<\/a> for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pmc\/articles\/PMC5538258\/\">treatment<\/a><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">,<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pubmed\/20463176\"> lactate to assess<\/a> response,<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u00a0or the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pubmed\/23753235\">correct<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pubmed\/27364620\">amount<\/a><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pubmed\/27229641\">whichever<\/a><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nejm.org\/doi\/full\/10.1056\/NEJMoa1711584\"> fluid<\/a> to resuscitate patients. Rather than acknowledge that there may be other ways to skin a cat, or that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pubmed\/29182749\">not everyone thinks<\/a> skinning cats <a href=\"https:\/\/emcrit.org\/pulmcrit\/ssc-petition\/\">is a good idea<\/a><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">,<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> or that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pubmed\/30772908\">we should<\/a> maybe <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pubmed\/29979221\">think<\/a> about <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pubmed\/30373647\">skinning dogs<\/a><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">,<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> the sepsis six protocol was the only way to treat sepsis.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">This blanket totalitarian approach and the oversimplification of a complex condition, which still has many unknowns, has also seeped into government policy and the public domain. Cash strapped hospitals are dependent on reaching the government sepsis targets for funding. News reports and court cases have been built, and public trust has been eroded, by <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">the perception that if the above protocol is followed sepsis can be definitively cured, and not following the protocol will lead to avoidable complications.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Simplification has a place in communicating medical knowledge. It is necessary to accommodate breadth, and groundwork should be laid before detail is learnt. The practise of medicine is impossibly intricate, requiring years of experience and learning, while guidelines are constructed by expert panels amalgamating mountains of (often conflicting) evidence to improve and standardise care. However, by not communicating that this knowledge is vastly simplified or potentially inaccurate, it becomes disingenuous and prohibitive. Bright inquisitive minds lose their propensity to challenge and to question, quashed by the onslaught of dogma and \u201cfacts.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Perhaps it is ego or insecurity that prevents the words, \u201cWe don\u2019t know, it\u2019s a bit complicated,\u201d from leaving doctors\u2019 lips and landing in the ears of medical students or the wider public. In reality, I suspect that there are others, like myself, who would appreciate honesty rather than a falsely definitive answer.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"><strong>Liyang Pan<\/strong> is a foundation doctor at University College London Hospitals Foundation Trust.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"><strong>Competing interests:<\/strong> None.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Simplification has a place in medical education, says Liyang Pan, but shouldn&#8217;t be at the cost of teaching students about medicine&#8217;s complexity [&#8230;]<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"btn btn-secondary understrap-read-more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/2019\/10\/01\/liyang-pan-medical-education-the-tyranny-of-guidelines-and-the-single-best-answer\/\">More&#8230;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":45807,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[165,224],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-45806","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-junior-doctors","category-students"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Liyang Pan: Medical education\u2014the tyranny of guidelines and the single best answer - The BMJ<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/2019\/10\/01\/liyang-pan-medical-education-the-tyranny-of-guidelines-and-the-single-best-answer\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Liyang Pan: Medical education\u2014the tyranny of guidelines and the single best answer - The BMJ\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Simplification has a place in medical education, says Liyang Pan, but shouldn&#8217;t be at the cost of teaching students about medicine&#8217;s complexity [...]More...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/2019\/10\/01\/liyang-pan-medical-education-the-tyranny-of-guidelines-and-the-single-best-answer\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The BMJ\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/bmjdotcom\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-10-01T14:53:35+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2019-10-16T08:48:59+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/files\/2019\/10\/guidelines_2.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"540\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"350\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"BMJ\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@bmj_latest\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@bmj_latest\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"BMJ\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/2019\\\/10\\\/01\\\/liyang-pan-medical-education-the-tyranny-of-guidelines-and-the-single-best-answer\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/2019\\\/10\\\/01\\\/liyang-pan-medical-education-the-tyranny-of-guidelines-and-the-single-best-answer\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"BMJ\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/ba3da426ed20e8f1d933ca367d8216fe\"},\"headline\":\"Liyang Pan: Medical education\u2014the tyranny of guidelines and the single best answer\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-10-01T14:53:35+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-10-16T08:48:59+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/2019\\\/10\\\/01\\\/liyang-pan-medical-education-the-tyranny-of-guidelines-and-the-single-best-answer\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":792,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/2019\\\/10\\\/01\\\/liyang-pan-medical-education-the-tyranny-of-guidelines-and-the-single-best-answer\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/files\\\/2019\\\/10\\\/guidelines_2.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Junior doctors\",\"Students\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/2019\\\/10\\\/01\\\/liyang-pan-medical-education-the-tyranny-of-guidelines-and-the-single-best-answer\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/2019\\\/10\\\/01\\\/liyang-pan-medical-education-the-tyranny-of-guidelines-and-the-single-best-answer\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/2019\\\/10\\\/01\\\/liyang-pan-medical-education-the-tyranny-of-guidelines-and-the-single-best-answer\\\/\",\"name\":\"Liyang Pan: Medical education\u2014the tyranny of guidelines and the single best answer - The BMJ\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/2019\\\/10\\\/01\\\/liyang-pan-medical-education-the-tyranny-of-guidelines-and-the-single-best-answer\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/2019\\\/10\\\/01\\\/liyang-pan-medical-education-the-tyranny-of-guidelines-and-the-single-best-answer\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/files\\\/2019\\\/10\\\/guidelines_2.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-10-01T14:53:35+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-10-16T08:48:59+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/2019\\\/10\\\/01\\\/liyang-pan-medical-education-the-tyranny-of-guidelines-and-the-single-best-answer\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/2019\\\/10\\\/01\\\/liyang-pan-medical-education-the-tyranny-of-guidelines-and-the-single-best-answer\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/2019\\\/10\\\/01\\\/liyang-pan-medical-education-the-tyranny-of-guidelines-and-the-single-best-answer\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/files\\\/2019\\\/10\\\/guidelines_2.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/files\\\/2019\\\/10\\\/guidelines_2.jpg\",\"width\":540,\"height\":350},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/2019\\\/10\\\/01\\\/liyang-pan-medical-education-the-tyranny-of-guidelines-and-the-single-best-answer\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Liyang Pan: Medical education\u2014the tyranny of guidelines and the single best answer\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/\",\"name\":\"The BMJ\",\"description\":\"Helping doctors make better decisions.\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"The BMJ\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/files\\\/2018\\\/05\\\/The-BMJ-logo.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/files\\\/2018\\\/05\\\/The-BMJ-logo.jpg\",\"width\":852,\"height\":568,\"caption\":\"The BMJ\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/bmjdotcom\\\/\",\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/bmj_latest\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/ba3da426ed20e8f1d933ca367d8216fe\",\"name\":\"BMJ\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/b4d8f39281bcae118348a1c027347b8e53b82d42520e774a8b50dd9a6ac6c01d?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/b4d8f39281bcae118348a1c027347b8e53b82d42520e774a8b50dd9a6ac6c01d?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/b4d8f39281bcae118348a1c027347b8e53b82d42520e774a8b50dd9a6ac6c01d?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"BMJ\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/author\\\/admin\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Liyang Pan: Medical education\u2014the tyranny of guidelines and the single best answer - The BMJ","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/2019\/10\/01\/liyang-pan-medical-education-the-tyranny-of-guidelines-and-the-single-best-answer\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Liyang Pan: Medical education\u2014the tyranny of guidelines and the single best answer - The BMJ","og_description":"Simplification has a place in medical education, says Liyang Pan, but shouldn&#8217;t be at the cost of teaching students about medicine&#8217;s complexity [...]More...","og_url":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/2019\/10\/01\/liyang-pan-medical-education-the-tyranny-of-guidelines-and-the-single-best-answer\/","og_site_name":"The BMJ","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/bmjdotcom\/","article_published_time":"2019-10-01T14:53:35+00:00","article_modified_time":"2019-10-16T08:48:59+00:00","og_image":[{"width":540,"height":350,"url":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/files\/2019\/10\/guidelines_2.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"BMJ","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@bmj_latest","twitter_site":"@bmj_latest","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"BMJ","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/2019\/10\/01\/liyang-pan-medical-education-the-tyranny-of-guidelines-and-the-single-best-answer\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/2019\/10\/01\/liyang-pan-medical-education-the-tyranny-of-guidelines-and-the-single-best-answer\/"},"author":{"name":"BMJ","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/#\/schema\/person\/ba3da426ed20e8f1d933ca367d8216fe"},"headline":"Liyang Pan: Medical education\u2014the tyranny of guidelines and the single best answer","datePublished":"2019-10-01T14:53:35+00:00","dateModified":"2019-10-16T08:48:59+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/2019\/10\/01\/liyang-pan-medical-education-the-tyranny-of-guidelines-and-the-single-best-answer\/"},"wordCount":792,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/2019\/10\/01\/liyang-pan-medical-education-the-tyranny-of-guidelines-and-the-single-best-answer\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/files\/2019\/10\/guidelines_2.jpg","articleSection":["Junior doctors","Students"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/2019\/10\/01\/liyang-pan-medical-education-the-tyranny-of-guidelines-and-the-single-best-answer\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/2019\/10\/01\/liyang-pan-medical-education-the-tyranny-of-guidelines-and-the-single-best-answer\/","url":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/2019\/10\/01\/liyang-pan-medical-education-the-tyranny-of-guidelines-and-the-single-best-answer\/","name":"Liyang Pan: Medical education\u2014the tyranny of guidelines and the single best answer - The BMJ","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/2019\/10\/01\/liyang-pan-medical-education-the-tyranny-of-guidelines-and-the-single-best-answer\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/2019\/10\/01\/liyang-pan-medical-education-the-tyranny-of-guidelines-and-the-single-best-answer\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/files\/2019\/10\/guidelines_2.jpg","datePublished":"2019-10-01T14:53:35+00:00","dateModified":"2019-10-16T08:48:59+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/2019\/10\/01\/liyang-pan-medical-education-the-tyranny-of-guidelines-and-the-single-best-answer\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/2019\/10\/01\/liyang-pan-medical-education-the-tyranny-of-guidelines-and-the-single-best-answer\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/2019\/10\/01\/liyang-pan-medical-education-the-tyranny-of-guidelines-and-the-single-best-answer\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/files\/2019\/10\/guidelines_2.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/files\/2019\/10\/guidelines_2.jpg","width":540,"height":350},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/2019\/10\/01\/liyang-pan-medical-education-the-tyranny-of-guidelines-and-the-single-best-answer\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Liyang Pan: Medical education\u2014the tyranny of guidelines and the single best answer"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/#website","url":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/","name":"The BMJ","description":"Helping doctors make better decisions.","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/#organization","name":"The BMJ","url":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/files\/2018\/05\/The-BMJ-logo.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/files\/2018\/05\/The-BMJ-logo.jpg","width":852,"height":568,"caption":"The BMJ"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/bmjdotcom\/","https:\/\/x.com\/bmj_latest"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/#\/schema\/person\/ba3da426ed20e8f1d933ca367d8216fe","name":"BMJ","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b4d8f39281bcae118348a1c027347b8e53b82d42520e774a8b50dd9a6ac6c01d?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b4d8f39281bcae118348a1c027347b8e53b82d42520e774a8b50dd9a6ac6c01d?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b4d8f39281bcae118348a1c027347b8e53b82d42520e774a8b50dd9a6ac6c01d?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"BMJ"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/"],"url":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/author\/admin\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45806","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45806"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45806\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/45807"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45806"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45806"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45806"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}