Syme oration to the Annual Scientific Congress of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons

摘要

Mr President, Fellows of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons and fellow guests.I would like to focus my address on what our wider society could learn from the experience of your Fellowship. Currently, participatory democracies are struggling with some fundamental and compelling issues that are remarkably analogous to how surgeons have had to develop and change their practice when addressing complex clinical cases. More specifically, these are the issues of understanding and communicating concepts of risk, the concept of trade-offs and the role of evidence in decision-making, particularly when there is a high level of uncertainty and/or significant knowledge gaps.So, why do I focus on these issues?