Medical care is far from standardized, and doctors demonstrate a surprising apathy toward the “best practices” supported by research. Doctors Slow to Adopt Tools To Standardize Health Care mentions one amusing study:
The study, done a dozen years ago but still on point, asked 135 doctors to evaluate the same patient, who had a urinary tract infection; they recommended 82 different strategies for treatment.
Granted, you have to ask how the study divvied up the doctors’ treatments into those categories, but still…82 different strategies?