Evidence based medicine… 6 months a year
May 10 | Posted by mrossol | Democrat Party, Mandates, Medicine, Prasad, ScienceAnnual mask mandates during respiratory virus season are an insult to evidence based medicine
Source: Evidence based medicine… 6 months a year
|
|
I joke that Chicago is the best city in the world…… six months a year.
It’s true. Chicago is brilliant in the late spring, summer and fall.
Now my own institution moves towards being evidence based…… six months a year.
After 4 years, our mask mandate ended May 2, 2024. My patients and I are finally (officially) mask free. But mask mandates will return.
 |
Every November 1st to April 30th? That’s half the year.
Academic medical centers have an obligation to articulate their goals and implement policies based on evidence. In this case, they may argue that the goals are threefold.
- To prevent iatrogenic spread of respiratory viruses (inside the hospital)
- To lower the cumulative burden of respiratory viruses in the community
- To improve the satisfaction of patients
Next, they have to explain why this policy works better than alternatives. For instance, what happens magically on November 1st and April 30th? If the policy works to reduce #1, why not implement it in May? Is it ok to spread respiratory viruses to your patients on Halloween but not Thanksgiving?
Sadly, there is simply no evidence this policy achieves any of these goals. No study has shown that masking all hospital entrants slows iatrogenic spread of respiratory viruses. No one has tested the specific mask that is passed out — a thin, baggy, cheap surgical mask. No study has assessed if this policy is capable of impacting broader community dynamics, and worse, we don’t even know patient preferences. Many may be desperate to see a provider’s face and hear their voice unimpeded with the mask.
Worst of all, academic medical centers are not generating evidence. They are not running a cluster randomized trial — as they ought to do. They are not surveying patient and staff preferences.
Finally, until recently, failing to comply was considered a misdemeanor criminal offense in San Francisco, comparable to minor assault or soliciting a prostitute.
 |
What does it say about academic medicine that we can easily implement policies — forcing doctors and visitors to comply — keep them going for year after year — and never run appropriate studies?
It says that we don’t care about science and evidence.
Finally, it is important to consider that these policies are inherently tied to partisan politics. In an analysis run by my team, we found withdrawing mask mandates did not correlate with Covid-19 cases, nor hospitalizations, but only the percentage of the county that voted for Biden. The more democratic you are, the more you like to mask. …
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.