Came across a comment that patients with lower education levels were more significantly likely to make poor medical decisions. It's not the first time I've heard a statement along those lines, not by a long shot.
However, in my admittedly limited experience, I've found this to be completely, 100% false.
Sure, there are people with less education who make dumb medical decisions. Plenty are non-compliant with medical advice. But there are also a good number of people with LOTS of education who make dumb medical decisions or who are non-compliant with medical advice. This is especially true of healthcare workers. They say doctors make the worst patients, and so far as I can tell, this is absolutely true!
I'm speaking in generalities of course, as I've met many healthcare workers and physicians who took excellent care of themselves and made intelligent, carefully considered medical decisions. Still, in general, people of all education levels can make idiotic decisions when it comes to their health or their medical care, just as people making good medical decisions can have any level of education.
We pre-judge people a lot in medicine. It's part of our training, not without reason. However, this element is one when I try not to make too many assumptions. Education is a poor guide to medical decision-making, so far as I've seen.
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