Best attribute for doctor: Information, knowledge or wisdom?

Information helps us ask the right questions, wisdom is essential to answer them.

- DR HEMANT MADAN

Last week, two separate events made me ponder on a question that confronts every contemporary medical professional - does vast access to online medical information actually help people make wiser decisions about their health? Do we, as medical professionals, operate at different levels of capability when it comes to managing information, applying knowledge, and delivering true wisdom to patients.

And more importantly, whether patients can distinguish between these levels when seeking care.

The first event was my introduction to a rather striking term: “information obesity.” A social media post defined it as the state of being intellectually overloaded—constantly bombarded with facts, snippets, and opinions about matters that barely concern us, often without context or depth. It also referred to our tendency to consume pre-selected, biased, or shallow content, mistaking it for understanding.

The second was an encounter with a young, tech-savvy patient with a minor ailment. What would have usually been a routine consultation, soon became an interaction where I was confronted with a series of highly technical questions. I usually encourage genuinely inquisitive patients to be openly communicative about their doubts regarding their disease or its treatment. In this case however, I couldn't help myself from asking him, if he was a medical professional? He smiled and answered that most of questions were artificial intelligence generated and that he was “just cross-verifying” the information with me. I was tempted to, but obviously refrained from asking him whether I had passed his test.

In order to answer the question raised above, we must understand the process of professional development from being well informed to knowledgeable to wise.

INFORMATION