Friday, July 11, 2025
ISSN 2765-8767
  • Survey
  • Podcast
  • Write for Us
  • My Account
  • Log In
Daily Remedy
  • Home
  • Articles
  • Podcasts
    Your Body, Your Health Care: A Conversation with Dr. Jeffrey Singer

    Your Body, Your Health Care: A Conversation with Dr. Jeffrey Singer

    July 1, 2025
    Unlocking the Secrets of GLP-1 Medications

    The cost structure of hospitals nearly doubles

    July 1, 2025
    Navigating the Medical Licensing Maze

    The Fight Against Healthcare Fraud: Dr. Rafai’s Story

    April 8, 2025
    Navigating the Medical Licensing Maze

    Navigating the Medical Licensing Maze

    April 4, 2025
    The Alarming Truth About Health Insurance Denials

    The Alarming Truth About Health Insurance Denials

    February 3, 2025
    Telehealth in Turmoil

    The Importance of NIH Grants

    January 31, 2025
  • Surveys

    Surveys

    What concerns you most about your healthcare?

    What concerns you most about your healthcare?

    July 1, 2025
    Perception vs. Comprehension: Public Understanding of the 2025 MAHA Report

    Perception vs. Comprehension: Public Understanding of the 2025 MAHA Report

    June 4, 2025

    Survey Results

    Do you believe national polls on health issues are accurate

    National health polls: trust in healthcare system accuracy?

    May 8, 2024
    Which health policy issues matter the most to Republican voters in the primaries?

    Which health policy issues matter the most to Republican voters in the primaries?

    May 14, 2024
    How strongly do you believe that you can tell when your provider does not trust you?

    How strongly do you believe that you can tell when your provider does not trust you?

    May 7, 2024
  • Courses
  • About Us
  • Contact us
  • Support Us
  • Official Learner
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Articles
  • Podcasts
    Your Body, Your Health Care: A Conversation with Dr. Jeffrey Singer

    Your Body, Your Health Care: A Conversation with Dr. Jeffrey Singer

    July 1, 2025
    Unlocking the Secrets of GLP-1 Medications

    The cost structure of hospitals nearly doubles

    July 1, 2025
    Navigating the Medical Licensing Maze

    The Fight Against Healthcare Fraud: Dr. Rafai’s Story

    April 8, 2025
    Navigating the Medical Licensing Maze

    Navigating the Medical Licensing Maze

    April 4, 2025
    The Alarming Truth About Health Insurance Denials

    The Alarming Truth About Health Insurance Denials

    February 3, 2025
    Telehealth in Turmoil

    The Importance of NIH Grants

    January 31, 2025
  • Surveys

    Surveys

    What concerns you most about your healthcare?

    What concerns you most about your healthcare?

    July 1, 2025
    Perception vs. Comprehension: Public Understanding of the 2025 MAHA Report

    Perception vs. Comprehension: Public Understanding of the 2025 MAHA Report

    June 4, 2025

    Survey Results

    Do you believe national polls on health issues are accurate

    National health polls: trust in healthcare system accuracy?

    May 8, 2024
    Which health policy issues matter the most to Republican voters in the primaries?

    Which health policy issues matter the most to Republican voters in the primaries?

    May 14, 2024
    How strongly do you believe that you can tell when your provider does not trust you?

    How strongly do you believe that you can tell when your provider does not trust you?

    May 7, 2024
  • Courses
  • About Us
  • Contact us
  • Support Us
  • Official Learner
No Result
View All Result
Daily Remedy
No Result
View All Result
Home Contrarian

Importance of Self-doubt

It leads to better clinical decisions

Daily Remedy by Daily Remedy
October 16, 2022
in Contrarian
0
Importance of Self-doubt

We first learn to deceive around the time we first learn the medical fundamentals. Keep your mouth shut and let them think you are an idiot. Speak up and prove it to them. Self doubt is intrinsic in healthcare because it is taught at the earliest stages of medical training.

It only gets worse from there. Soon, schools of medical students turn into clusters of residents competing to see who can hide their self-doubts the best. It manifests when discussing patient vignettes on the ward. Shotgun questions are answered as quickly as they are shot off, lest a resident let another beat her to the punch. A hierarchy forms. Those on top become department chairs and committee leads. Those at the bottom learn to follow in stride.

More than anything else, this captures the ethos of modern medical culture: a system stratified by self-doubt where those who hide it the best are deemed the brightest and lead the next generation of physicians. The work environment and technological influx may change, but the cultural mindset remains the same. But self-doubt is important, particularly in medicine.

Self-doubt, like most implicit perceptions, does not appear like more apparent emotions, as we understand them. Anger is anger. When we feel it, we express it. But implicit perceptions manifest contrary to its original intention. When we doubt ourselves, we reflexively seek to prove ourselves to others. We cognitively match doubt with overconfidence.

It explains why medical students compete to outdo one another; why residents gun each other down on the wards. Self-doubt is something to hide. So we not only mask it, we compensate for it. But like anything suppressed, it never goes away. It just boils over.

It leads to snitch culture. The lingering effect of antagonistic self-doubt is pretentious self-confidence. Snitch culture is the logical manifestation of delusional exceptionalism cultivated over time through feigned overconfidence.

We now have a cottage industry of physicians groomed in the art of serving as expert witnesses, who work alongside lawyers to twist the data just enough to win the legal argument without telling mistruths, turning turn-of-phrases just enough to contort the data.

Like the kings of pre-colonial India turning on one another in favor of the British, no physician truly wins in this scenario. When those who are divided fight against one another, neither side wins. The victory goes only to the dividers. These would be the lawyers: the kingmakers who regulate healthcare through moralizations masquerading through the pretense of administrative oversight.

We in medicine should know better. Our self doubt is a strength. Yet, we perceive it as a weakness. And like so many things in this world, we become what we believe. So self-doubt has become a liability. The physicians of lore would advise otherwise: “Medicine is a science of uncertainty and an art of probability” is a famous quote by Dr. William Osler, the physician proclaimed as everyone’s hero in medicine who no one seems eager to emulate.

Dr. Osler was famous for his experience-based approach to healthcare. What he saw, he acted on. And if he was wrong, then he would tweak his approach until he was right. Try saying that today and you will find yourself mired in a lawsuit.

It’s because we are conditioned to accept self-doubt as a liability and the current system of healthcare reinforces it. It doesn’t have to be this way. We can fix much of healthcare just by fixing one cognitive switch in our minds: accept self-doubt as a natural part of medicine, as something to acknowledge.

Most physicians know uncertainty exists in medicine. But when we question a particular decision or action, be it for ourselves or toward others, that self-doubt expresses in its contrarian form of false overconfidence. No one accepts they are wrong because we see wrongness as a cardinal sin in healthcare.

But wrongness is a natural result of self-doubt. It’s fundamental to our understanding of the field. We improve by being wrong. We overcome being wrong by recognizing our self-doubts. But in denying its importance, we give rise to counterintuitive notions of doubt as weakness and of wrongness as personal failings. It’s time to forsake this way of thinking. Let’s openly embrace our doubts.

Remember, confidence and self-doubt are not opposites. True confidence comes in the presence of doubt. Confidence without doubt is frail, a house of cards waiting to tumble. Doubt is the mortar providing the foundation. It’s time we begin to appreciate its role in medicine.

ShareTweet
Daily Remedy

Daily Remedy

Dr. Jay K Joshi serves as the editor-in-chief of Daily Remedy. He is a serial entrepreneur and sought after thought-leader for matters related to healthcare innovation and medical jurisprudence. He has published articles on a variety of healthcare topics in both peer-reviewed journals and trade publications. His legal writings include amicus curiae briefs prepared for prominent federal healthcare cases.

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Videos

In this episode of the Daily Remedy Podcast, Dr. Jeffrey Singer discusses his book 'Your Body, Your Health Care,' emphasizing the importance of patient autonomy in healthcare decisions. He explores historical cases that shaped medical ethics, the contradictions in harm reduction policies, and the role of the FDA in drug approval processes. Dr. Singer critiques government regulations that infringe on individual autonomy and advocates for a healthcare system that respects patients as autonomous adults. The conversation highlights the need for a shift in how healthcare policies are formulated, focusing on individual rights and self-medication.

Chapters

00:00 Introduction to Dr. Jeffrey Singer and His Book
01:11 The Importance of Patient Autonomy
10:29 Contradictions in Harm Reduction Policies
20:48 The Role of the FDA in Drug Approval
30:21 Certificate of Need Laws and Their Impact
39:59 The Legacy of Patient Autonomy and the Hippocratic Oath
Your Body, Your Health Care: A Conversation with Dr. Jeffrey Singer
YouTube Video _IWv1EYeJYQ
Subscribe

RFK Jr.’s Overhaul of CDC Vaccine Policy

Visuals

Official MAHA Report

Official MAHA Report

by Daily Remedy
May 31, 2025
0

Explore the official MAHA Report released by the White House in May 2025.

Read more

Twitter Updates

Tweets by DailyRemedy1

Newsletter

Start your Daily Remedy journey

Cultivate your knowledge of current healthcare events and ensure you receive the most accurate, insightful healthcare news and editorials.

*we hate spam as much as you do

Popular

  • The Grey Market of Weight Loss: How Compounded GLP-1 Medications Continue Despite FDA Crackdowns

    The Grey Market of Weight Loss: How Compounded GLP-1 Medications Continue Despite FDA Crackdowns

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Generative Scribes and Pervasive Errors: The Promise and Pitfalls of AI-Driven Clinical Notes

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • The First FBI Agent I Met

    3 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Retatrutide: The Weight Loss Drug Everyone Wants—But Can’t Officially Get

    1 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Continuous Care, Continuous Data: How AI-Powered Remote Monitoring Redefines Diagnostics

    1 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • 628 Followers

Daily Remedy

Daily Remedy offers the best in healthcare information and healthcare editorial content. We take pride in consistently delivering only the highest quality of insight and analysis to ensure our audience is well-informed about current healthcare topics - beyond the traditional headlines.

Daily Remedy website services, content, and products are for informational purposes only. We do not provide medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. All rights reserved.

Important Links

  • Support Us
  • About Us
  • Contact us
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms and Conditions

Newsletter

Start your Daily Remedy journey

Cultivate your knowledge of current healthcare events and ensure you receive the most accurate, insightful healthcare news and editorials.

*we hate spam as much as you do

  • Survey
  • Podcast
  • About Us
  • Contact us

© 2025 Daily Remedy

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Articles
  • Podcasts
  • Surveys
  • Courses
  • About Us
  • Contact us
  • Support Us
  • Official Learner

© 2025 Daily Remedy

Start your Daily Remedy journey

Cultivate your knowledge of current healthcare events and ensure you receive the most accurate, insightful healthcare news and editorials.

*we hate spam as much as you do