Quote Originally Posted by johnep View Post
We have a lot of problems with people not giving us the background or saying cannot find something on google. Ask the wrong question, you will get the wrong answer.
johnep
Exactly, but the problem is that many people aren't aware of what it is they DON'T know. That is why they don't know what question to ask.
At one time information was power because the sources of information were locked away and only the previliged few had access to them. Now that every possible piece of information is only a click away the power comes from being able to utilise the information we have.

It is easy to find the British Thoracic Society guidelines but that doesn't make them easy to understand if you aren't already familiar with the different classes of drugs used to treat asthma.
The advice I've found most useful is "when you are stuck go back to first principles" but it seems the lack of instruction in the basics means many people don't know the first principles. They can get by for a considerable period of time with rote learning and following standard proceedures but at some point they get stuck and they don't have the tools they need to get unstuck.