For Doctors, age could be more than just a number. Everyone knows that to become a doctor and receive a Bachelor of Medicine, you need to study at least 10 years to be in the field. In many professions, a premium is placed on experience, with age often a surrogate for expertise – but probably no profession places more primacy on age than medicine, Nothing is more reassuring to patients than seeing a silver-haired doctor walk up to their bedside.
To this day, medicine is largely an apprenticeship, with young physicians huddling around older physicians, straining to catch every word, so as to not lose a nugget of wisdom.
Experience is even written into our dress codes: Students in many medical schools cannot wear long white coats, unlike theirs seniors; in some, even medical residents can’t have coats that extend much below the waist.
Yet, as the field evolves into one where data and evidence are beginning to outweigh anecdotes and opinions, one thing is becoming increasingly clear: In medicine, a lack of experience may not actually be a bad thing.