Q8 - Editorial: If current trends continue, obesity

[ohthatpatrick]

Question Type:
Principle-Strengthen

Stimulus Breakdown:
CONCLUSION: Doctors need more training in the treatment of obesity.
EVIDENCE: If current trends continue, obesity will be #1 preventable illness, but recent survey says 45% of docs don't feel qualified to advise patients on weight-related issues.

Answer Anticipation:
If we were trying to write a "IF premise, THEN conclusion" type rule, it might sound like:
"If 45% of doctors don't feel qualified to discuss an issue that is trending towards being a #1 preventable concern, then doctors need more training in that issue."

If we were trying to write a Should-Rule-of-Thumb type principle, it might sound like:
"More than 55% of doctors should feel qualified to discuss an issue that may be the #1 preventable illness."
or "More training on an issue is the best way to move doctors from feeling unqualified to feeling qualified to talk about an issue".

This argument is also assuming that current trends will continue, but that doesn't sound like a principle to me, so I doubt that's where the correct answer is going.

Correct Answer:
E

Answer Choice Analysis:
(A) This rule says "If ______ , then doctors should not be trained". That right side is the opposite of what our CONC is trying to argue, so this rule is useless to us.

(B) This rules says "If ______, then changes in training are unwarranted." That right side is again the opposite of what our author is arguing for.

(C) This is a rule about when doctors do more good, not about whether they should get more training in a subject.

(D) "conditions they can treat most effectively" doesn't match up with anything in the conversation. And "should focus their efforts on" is a poor match for "should get more training in".

(E) YES. If a doctor feels unqualified to advise a patient on an issue, then it's fair to say they are inadequately trained (and thus need more training). Obesity was identified as the underlying cause of preventable illnesses.

Takeaway/Pattern: The correct answer to Principle questions should always feel like a patching together of things we've already mentioned. When new ideas appear (Effective treatments? Changes in the treatment options? Unpreventable illnesses? Treat most effectively?) that almost always means the answer is wrong. Focus on the wording in the conclusion to make quicker eliminations. If a rule isn't helping us to conclude that "therefore, more training is needed", then it's useless to us.

#officialexplanation