importance of antimicrobial resistance

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17 July 2019

Connect Death Of Expertise (By Tom Nichols) To Medical Laboratory Science/technician

W/ Annotated Bib.

Becoming a professional in a domain is always a long process that involves one’s

dedication, passion for learning and applying the gained knowledge to practice, obtaining

extensive experience in a chosen field. In the modern age, when the internet provides access

to information on all possible subjects, the importance of expertise has faded significantly.

Individuals in a democratic society tend to believe that their knowledge in any discipline is as

relevant as those of experts in a field. This has led to the so-called death of expertise,

explained extensively in Nichols’ book The Death of Expertise: The Campaign Against

Established Knowledge and Why it Matters. The book brings valuable insights into the

current role of expertise in society. It can also be applied to the perception of expertise in the

medical field, which has an enormous role in ensuring the welfare of individuals. Being an

expert, including one in the therapeutic area, means possessing knowledge and skills relevant

to a field, having the ability to provide reasonable justifications to the given propositions, and

critically evaluate any sources of information used for educating and improving one’s skills

in a field.

The definition of experts and their role in society have been of interest in the scientific

field for a long time. This interest in the notion of expertise can be explained by the enormous

impact experts have on society and the world. Whenever one needs a piece of advice or an

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expert opinion, one will refer to an expert in this field to make the right decision and be

confident that it will bring the desired value. The skills and knowledge of experts in various

fields may differ significantly, as each area of study has specific requirements. However,

there are some common characteristics of an expert which can be applied to any field. Thus,

one can be considered an expert only if he/she can provide strong justifications for a variety

of propositions in a realm (Weinstein). This, however, is applicable, to what Weinstein calls

an epistemic sense of expertise. According to Weinstein, there are two primary types of

expertise: epistemic, which implies possessing knowledge in a field, and performative, which

involves performing a skill. Therefore, a general definition of expertise is the ability to offer

expert opinions or perform a skill in a domain.

In the times when everyone has access to an enormous amount of information as

never before, people are becoming more and more ignorant about new knowledge and

reasoning of the events that are happening in today’s society. As a result of this, individuals

are easily manipulated, reluctant to believe scientific information, and hesitant to learn more

about concepts and events. This issue is a central theme of Tom Nichols’ book The Death of

Expertise: The Campaign Against Established Knowledge and Why it Matters. In his book,

the author explores the collapsing relationship between experts and citizens and how this

relationship functions in a democracy. Although ignorance and lack of knowledge are not

new phenomena in American society, Nichols emphasizes its rapid growth during the last

decades, describing the negative consequences it has brought and is likely to bring in the

future.

Although Nichols refers to expertise in any field, his views about it are highly

relevant to science-based medicine. In his book, the author explains the changes in the

importance of expertise through the lens of democracy. In a democracy, everyone is equal;

however, people put their own interpretations to what equality should look like, disregarding

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expert opinions and thinking that their views are equal to opinions and judgments of experts

(Hall). When people are faced with ideas that contradict their beliefs, they will not want to

think critically about their own judgments; they would rather reject a different opinion, even

if it is scientifically proven. This is also applicable to medical practice when individuals

would rather continue believing in their preconceptions instead of listening to an expert’s

opinion and reconsidering their views. One example of how damaging the lack of expertise

can be is a surge of whooping cough in the US, the reason for which is people not believing

their doctors about the benefits and harmlessness of vaccination (Nichols). Therefore, the

author believes that the death of expertise poses significant harm to society, requiring action

to promote expert knowledge and encourage individuals to apply more critical thinking to the

information they consume. In order to understand the importance of why expert opinion is

vital, one has to understand the specifics and difficulties of becoming one.

Becoming an expert in any field is not an easy process, requiring one’s hard work and

dedication to a chosen subject. Each discipline or field requires different approaches to

becoming an expert, but there are a few steps that are universal for developing knowledge

and expertise in an area. These steps include studying, applying knowledge, summarizing,

and teaching (Leibman). First, one should pay attention to the resources used for studying,

making sure that these are high-quality books written by experts in a field. No matter how

many books one reads, knowledge cannot be grasped sufficiently without applying it. After

applying new knowledge, an individual deepens his/her understanding of the material and

how it works in real life. Summarizing will help to revise one’s knowledge and ensure that

nothing is missing in understanding the subject. Lastly, teaching is one of the best ways of

becoming an expert, as explaining the material to others makes one make an in-depth analysis

of the subject in order to explain it to others clearly.

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The concept of expertise in the medical field is more complicated than in other areas.

Medical experts work closely with people, taking responsibility for their health and often

lives. Therefore, becoming an expert in this filed is more demanding and requires a lot more

time and effort than other domains. The medical diagnosis is one of the earliest areas that was

explored (Klein). Therefore, expertise in medicine is an essential topic to examine in order to

understand what it means to be an expert in the medical field. Considering the complexity of

medical expertise, it is not enough to possess relevant knowledge and skills to be an expert in

this field. In addition to these, an expert in medicine needs to have extensive experience in

medical practice that would show his/her proficiency. Moreover, expertise is not simply

exposure to performing specific activities relevant to the field; instead, it is a result of the

amount of practice accumulated during an individual’s career, which leads to advances in

knowledge and experience in the medical practice. In the health care domain, there are

specific performance metrics which ensure the systematic development and improvement of a

professional (Causer, Barach & Williams). Therefore, expertise in the medical field implies a

number of factors which characterize the professionalism and ability to provide services.

Nichols offers a few recommendations to experts to have a more powerful impact and

positive change in their communities. The first recommendation by the author is for experts

to be more humble. Whatever amount of knowledge and practice an expert can possess, there

is always something he/she could improve and gain more expertise on. Being humble enables

experts to be open to new information, evaluating it, and incorporating into their existing

knowledge. The second piece of advice is to be ecumenical, meaning experts should vary

their learning sources not believe blindly in anything they read. This is especially applicable

to the topics where politics is concerned, as a lot of information sources represent political

motivations. Lastly, one should be less cynical when listening to others’ opinions, nurturing

the belief that people’s intentions are more assertive and with positive intentions. Therefore,

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becoming an expert in any field is not an easy task, requiring critical thinking skills and

continuous development.

Thus, becoming an expert in the medical field can be a challenging task. Developing

expertise requires not only collecting knowledge and consuming books, but it also requires

analyzing the content from different sources and evaluating their relevance along with

identifying the motives that can be hidden when presenting the information. Hence, students

have to find information in peer-reviewed scientific journals which present accurate and

precise data based on scientific studies and experiments. They should also check any sources

they use for credibility. To do this, it is relevant to check the author of the article or book, his

educational background, and expertise, and the resources he/she used to write the piece of

information. In addition, students should strive for finding where to apply their knowledge in

order to deepen their understanding and become more confident in their knowledge. Lastly,

to become experts, students should follow Nichols’ recommendations - be humble, analyze

the sources of information thoroughly, and be less cynical when interacting with other

people’s views.

Finally, developing expertise is not an easy task, even in the age of the internet and

the accessibility of various resources in any area. Students in the medical field should possess

knowledge, skills, and strategies on how to make their learning as effective as possible,

making sure that they use appropriate sources and apply critical thinking whenever they

gather new information. Despite the decline of the importance of expertise, students need to

realize the value of professionalism and strive for becoming experts to bring value to society

and contribute to spreading relevant and accurate data free of political motives and biases.

Works Cited

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Causer, Joe et al. "Expertise In Medicine: Using The Expert Performance Approach

To Improve Simulation Training". Medical Education, vol 48, no. 2, 2014, pp. 115-

123. Wiley, doi:10.1111/medu.12306. Accessed 17 July 2019.

Hall, Harriet. "The Death Of Expertise". Sciencebasedmedicine.Org, 2017,

https://sciencebasedmedicine.org/the-death-of-expertise/.

Klein, Eran. "Toward A Definition Of Expertise In Medicine". AMA Journal Of

Ethics, vol 8, no. 2, 2006, pp. 69-70. American Medical Association (AMA),

doi:10.1001/virtualmentor.2006.8.2.fred1-0602. Accessed 17 July 2019.

Leibman, Pete. "The Fastest Way To Become An Expert On Anything". Amanet.Org,

2019, https://www.amanet.org/articles/the-fastest-way-to-become-an-expert-on-anything/.

Nichols, Tom. "The Death Of Expertise". The Federalist, 2014,

https://thefederalist.com/2014/01/17/the-death-of-expertise/.

Nichols, Tom. The Death Of Expertise. 1st ed., Oxford University Press, 2017.

Weinstein, Bruce D. "What Is An Expert?". Theoretical Medicine, vol 14, no. 1, 1993,

pp. 57-73. Springer Science And Business Media LLC, doi:10.1007/bf00993988. Accessed 17

July 2019.