Dr Natalie Edmiston, who works with UCRH as the Academic Lead Research Education for Western Sydney University students, is one of the lead authors in a journal article published today in BMJ Evidence-Based Medicine.
The article, Teaching to address overdiagnosis, delves into the need for medical students to learn to make diagnoses that are both correct and useful.
The article looks at overdiagnosis as a concept that presents both opportunities and challenges in medical education. The article argues that learning that a diagnosis should not just be correct but should have utility, and that making a diagnosis is part of clinical decision-making, may be more important than understanding overdiagnosis terminology. Future doctors that appreciate this, and have skills as leaders, can help to produce a more patient-centred and sustainable healthcare system.
Dr Edmiston and her co-author acknowledged the important contribution a number of Western Sydney University MD students in researching and understanding this topic: Lucinda Colbert, Ollie Wong, Gisung Ko and Minh Le.
