Scientific literacy is the knowledge and understanding of scientific concepts and

processes required for personal decision making, participation in civic and cultural

affairs, and economic productivity. It also includes specific types of abilities.

Scientific literacy means that a person can ask, find, or determine answers to

questions derived from curiosity about everyday experiences. It means that a person

has the ability to describe, explain, and predict natural phenomena. Scientific literacy

entails being able to read with understanding articles about science in the popular

press and to engage in social conversation about the validity of the conclusions.

Scientific literacy implies that a person can identify scientific issues underlying national

and local decisions and express positions that are scientifically and technologically

informed. A literate citizen should be able to evaluate the quality of scientific

information on the basis of its source and the methods used to generate it. Scientific

literacy also implies the capacity to pose and evaluate arguments based on evidence

and to apply conclusions from such arguments appropriately.

Doctors say that “doctorness”—the traditional way that physicians practice medicine—is threatened, a new study reported. These threats include the increasing complexity of the health care landscape, combined with today’s technology-enabled consumer, according to the “Truth About Doctors” study conducted by marketing services firm McCann.

The study found that the pressures of today’s world have not only stolen time and autonomy from doctors, but have simultaneously demanded they do more on someone else’s agenda.

“The autonomous, entrepreneurial role the doctor has played in the past has changed dramatically. In the last five years, doctors have gone from being the lynchpin in the health care system to a devalued cog in a larger wheel,” said co-author of the study Hilary Gentile.

The research involved interviews with 450 doctors across the United States.

Study co-author Laura Simpson added, “Modern-day doctors have become trapped in a paradoxical standard where they’re expected to forge a warm relationship with patients, yet operate with the cold precision of a machine. In our real-time, know-it-all culture, their authority and respect are eroding right under their feet.”

In addition to the physician interviews, this research revealed that nearly one-third of Americans between the ages of 18 and 34 think they could be doctors with little or no training.

“People think that because they can go on WebMD, they understand what we understand,” said one physician quoted in the report. “We have studied and seen so much, but people just don't value or respect that anymore.”

“Of doctors who said that, on average, technology such as WebMD and wearable devices are bad for patients, the number one risk they cited of this technology is that patients misdiagnose themselves (74%),” Ms. Simpson said. “Fiftyseven percent also said that patients don’t take the doctor’s advice because they think they know better.”