Americans are Clueless About Healthcare. Who’s to Blame?

When faced with so much disinformation, do we give up on the truth?

Perhaps our fates were sealed when Vincent Vega violently slammed that needle into Mia Wallace’s heart in 1994.

That scene from Pulp Fiction is breathtaking from a cinematic viewpoint, and yet so patently divested from real life.

In my years working as a paramedic that began just shortly after Tarantino’s film was released, I responded to hundreds of heroin overdoses. Fortunately for everyone involved, I never arrived to find someone had injected ‘adrenaline’ (more specifically, epinephrine) directly into the patient’s heart.

It isn’t the correct therapy for the medical issue at hand and would potentially create harm while doing little to counteract the respiratory drive suppression created by ingesting the opiate.

Damn, it was a great scene though.

That’s the problem with television and movie representation of medical care. There is also a problem with advertising and print media as well. It has a name:

Sensationalism.

We might be okay as a nation if sensationalism didn’t have an insidious partner — the rumor.

You know rumor. That word-of-mouth spreading of information without verification that presents material as “well-known fact”. Rumor has become even more prolific and treacherous now that social media allows that material to spread like wildfire. Like a virus.

Like a Novel Coronavirus.

There is a lot of information out there right now about the Wuhan Coronavirus; some of it is accurate. A lot is not.

And even the information that is technically accurate is being sensationalized. I am particularly appalled at the Wall Street Journal using the word “deadly” to describe the virus. I would expect it from certain publications, but I have always considered the WSJ as a trustworthy source of reporting. Their jumping on the sensationalism bandwagon in this case saddens me.

You can read here where I compare the incidence of the Wuhan Coronavirus to annual seasonal influenza numbers. I realize the count is climbing as we become more aware of the Wuhan issue, but the comparison is still relevant.

But it does not surprise me. In a way, it is par for our course here in America, where misinformation is king. Particularly when it comes to healthcare.

One of our most common misconceptions lies in the role of antibiotics. A recent poll by YouGov demonstrates that over 40% of Americans believe that antibiotics can be used to treat viral diseases, 35% believe they can treat influenza, and 24% believe they can treat a cold.

Antibiotics are a pretty straightforward concept. If the infection is bacterial, then antibiotics can treat it. Otherwise, they cannot. [Hint: if it contains the word ‘virus’ it is a virus and not a bacterial illness.]

Perhaps that isn’t too hard to believe when so many people don’t even know what influenza actually is. Somewhere along the line, the unfortunate term “stomach flu” came into existence to describe gastrointestinal-related illness.

Noroviruses and other gastrointestinal illnesses are not the “flu”. They are not related to influenza in any way, and have a completely different set of symptoms, albeit nausea is a prolific and vague symptom which could manifest in almost every illness.

Pop quiz: Can the Norovirus be treated by antibiotics? [Answer at end]

Influenza is an infectious seasonal respiratory illness that has two types, A and B. Type A is further characterized by specific proteins hemagglutinin and neuraminidase (commonly abbreviated H and N). The seasonal influenza virus often mutates and changes, that is why the effectiveness of vaccines (link to CDC explanation) varies from year to year. And, it is also why a single vaccination will not continue to protect you from future strains of influenza the way a single injection of vaccine will protect you against the measles for decades.

I know that I am getting a bit deep into the weeds here, but in a way, I am emphasizing my point. Most people’s eyes glaze over with presentation of factual medical information and they just click to the next link about “deadly” viruses and “pandemics” (another improperly over-used word).

Let’s face it. We are inundated with so much information that it is often difficult to keep our healthcare facts straight. I get it. Especially when John Travolta and Uma Thurman are doing their attractive actor best to show us the sensational side of medical care.

In real life, medicine is gritty, grueling and often repetitive work. It involves a fact-heavy knowledge base and a unique language to communicate complex ideas.

It involves a great deal of hand washing.

Not everyone is going to be a doctor or other medical caregiver, and therefore be fluent in all things healthcare.

However, I think we can all play a role in eliminating healthcare misinformation. We know that sensationalism + rumor = misinformation. As much as I would like to believe that the Wall Street Journal or Hollywood might listen to reason, I doubt we can expect to limit sensationalism.

That means our common defense against misinformation is eliminating its spread. That’s right. Stop propagating rumors. When someone tells you that you should go to the doctor and get some antibiotics for your cold, let it end there. You might try and educate them if you believe it will work, but at the very least don’t pass on the “advice”. Let it die.

Give that rumor a metaphysical hand-washing and kill it. Then do it again with the next rumor; like I said, medicine is gritty and repetitive. We have a lot of healthcare rumors to quash.

Check your facts. Don’t pass on healthcare rumors. Wash your hands.

Repeat.

[Answer to pop quiz — of course not, it is a virus. But you know this.]

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Timothy Key spent over 26 years in the fire service as a firefighter/paramedic and various fire chief management roles. Now moving forward to writing and consulting. For more articles like this, join the mail list.