In article , Mike Gilmour
wrote:


Surely both the content and the authors background lends credence to the
validity of those posts. If I was consulting a doctor I would like to
be assured that he/she holds valid qualifications for his/her position
and has practiced successfully within his/her field for a suitable
period - (far too easy to bury your mistakes Mr Shipman)!!! I certainly
would not take the word of someone working not from a doctors surgery
who purports to be a doctor but shows neither the certified
documentary evidence or concrete proof of a solid working experience
within the field in question.

Well, even though I have some formal qualifications, I also have various
reasons to doubt that they are always a good guide to the ability of the
person who is 'qualified'.

On one level, I've certainly seen many graduates who leave with good first
degrees, but who I would not have employed in a lab. Some students are
rather better at passing exams than in showing any real understanding of
the 'facts' they have memorised.

And in the 'medical' area I'm afraid I could tell some real horror stories
of the really shocking treatment, etc, that some GPs, consultants, inflict
upon their patients. My experience is that it become necessary in some
cases to change GP/consultant and spend a lot of effort learning about an
area for yourself to try and tackle the ignorance and errors of some
qualified medical people. :-/

I'd like to hope my personal experiences were unusual. However from
meetings with others, and from reading about the topic this sadly seems not
to be so.

FWIW I'd say that Iain's best 'qualifications' are his relevant experience.
No idea if he has any formal qualifications, and TBH am not really
interested as they don't normally say much to me.

I have seen Iain's name on many IMO good recordings and I quickly
recalled his name when he started posting, his further postings and
e-mails certainly satisfied me of his credentials.

I also hope he continues to post as I have found his contributions
interesting.

Slainte,

Jim

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