Interesting: Pharma companies create med student curriculum?

[AprilM]

I took ds to a nutritionist today, and we got onto the topic of vaccines, and she told me that many people don't know this, but med student curriculum is created by pharmaceutical drug companies. That blew my mind. That would definitely explain alot about how allopathic doctors go about treating illnesses. And it would definitely explain a lot about why so many pediatricians and doctors ignore the possibility that vaccines are really hurting our children. Just thought I would share.

[mommyofemma]

I didnt know that,but it makes sense. I have a "friend" who just finished nursing school and she had read a blog on my myspace about the negative side of vaccines. I never really talk to her anymore, she called me anyways to question me about the vaccine issue and I tried explaing my take on vaccines and of course she told me that by me not vaxing my DD that that was DANGEROUS! Of course I came back with in my opinion vaxing would be dangerous. And everything I tried to tell her she was like "Well I never learned that in nursing school" and I was like " well of course you didnt!"

[mamakah]

I have heard that too. I am hoping that someone on here will have a link for reference on this. Big pharma has such a disgusting influence on the medical world. yuck.

[Sileree]

Good link for those interested:
http://www.propublica.org/article/ph...ical-schoolerb

I'm in nursing school also and taking therapeutic nutrition at the moment. The textbook is so against anything non-allopathic. Any and all herbs are dangerous! Taking any vitamin in a dosage higher than 150% of the RDA is dangerous! Supplements are not regulated by the FDA and are dangerous, but drugs are so they are safe! Vitamin B17 was toted as a cure for cancer by quacks! And no references to back these sorts of statements up.

It really grates on my nerves that I have to read this stupid crap and regurgitate it for a good grade. It was written in 2005 or 2006 and its so freaking out of date and wrong. :

[Ophelia]

Sileree can you correct the link? It does not work for me. Did the page get moved?

[Sileree]

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/03/bu...school.html?em

Hmm, not sure why the link I posted before didn't work. I hope this one does!

[JesiLynne]

I don't mean to sound snarky, it is not my intention, but they practice Medicine. They are not healers, their job is to identify the disease and prescribe something for it. For me it makes sense that the Pharm CO. write the books.

[flowers]

Originally Posted by JesiLynne

I don't mean to sound snarky, it is not my intention, but they practice Medicine. They are not healers, their job is to identify the disease and prescribe something for it. For me it makes sense that the Pharm CO. write the books.

Yes, I think it is time for consumers to acknowledge this and not expect anything else from them. We need to take responsibility for our own wellness and let the medical community know we haven't been all that impressed.

[runes]

In our local town newspaper, there is an article about a family practice physician who has been practicing for many years and has become more and more holistic/alternative as time has gone by. She says:

"In medical school you are taught to treat the condition with pharmaceuticals, but many times you are only treating the surface problem. So I never felt like I was really fixing anybody."

Commenting on some alternative treatments (specifically, bioidentical hormones), she says:

"I learned that these published findings have been thoroughly researched, but have not been presented to the regular physician because they are usually not funded by a drug company."

How frustrating to be a doctor that went into the field thinking that they are helping people to heal their bodies, only to end up being unwitting pawns for the pharmaceutical industry, aka legalized drug pushers.

Yeah, I'm feeling cynical tonight...

(PS, I will try to find a link to the article, it's a small local paper so not sure if I'll find it.)

[Mirzam]

Originally Posted by flowers

Yes, I think it is time for consumers to acknowledge this and not expect anything else from them. We need to take responsibility for our own wellness and let the medical community know we haven't been all that impressed.

[emma1325]

I took a nutrition class in college (the class that pre-meds had to take) and it basically glorified formula.

Breastfeeding was an afterthought. It mentioned some good things about breastfeeding, but said something like, "most mothers wean their babies to formula before they are 1 year," which technically is true, but the implication was that formula should be used. It also had pictures of different formula BRANDS...because it covered powdered formula, concentrate, etc. and had to show a picture example of each one.

[Rosehip]

Originally Posted by emma1325

I took a nutrition class in college (the class that pre-meds had to take) and it basically glorified formula.

Breastfeeding was an afterthought. It mentioned some good things about breastfeeding, but said something like, "most mothers wean their babies to formula before they are 1 year," which technically is true, but the implication was that formula should be used. It also had pictures of different formula BRANDS...because it covered powdered formula, concentrate, etc. and had to show a picture example of each one.

Interesting that pre-meds take nutrition at your college. It's not a standard pre-med course, and not one that med schools require or recommend (to my knowledge, there may be a small handful of exceptions). Are you sure it wasn't pre-nursing/pre-health? That's a different set of courses.

On a more positive note, I know of several medical schools that are now teaching breastfeeding modules, and there are even a few elective breastfeeding medicine rotations that students can do. My DS & I were a nursing dyad example for med students when he was an infant. They asked SO many questions.

[claddaghmom]

Oh this reminds me of my physiology class. Instead of "Physiology II" it should have been named "We hate the rythm method"



The authors must have had a problem...maybe an oopsy baby I don't know but there was such a bias that even students who had never heard of FAM were questioning it.

[emma1325]

Originally Posted by ToastyToes

Interesting that pre-meds take nutrition at your college. It's not a standard pre-med course, and not one that med schools require or recommend (to my knowledge, there may be a small handful of exceptions). Are you sure it wasn't pre-nursing/pre-health? That's a different set of courses.

On a more positive note, I know of several medical schools that are now teaching breastfeeding modules, and there are even a few elective breastfeeding medicine rotations that students can do. My DS & I were a nursing dyad example for med students when he was an infant. They asked SO many questions.

It sure was. My mistake.