But certainly we should always approach the literature critically, including the author list, journal of publication and its peer-review practices, and the methods.
Would you publish if the head honcho of your double-blind study insists to know what treatment a certain patient is receiving?
You have this discussion about research ethics and subsequent beratement once, and then you either mentally check out or go to another hospital.
Do most medical students publish useless case studies trying to jockey for residency spots and signal hustle/devotion? No doubt!
But there are a good handful of medical students who are still (surprisingly) in it for the medicine and not the money. And that handful is exceedingly capable; no reason they can’t publish valuable work with the right collaborators and resources.
Despite h-index claiming to balance quantity and quality, it obviously incentives quantity over quality (no single publication can increment h-index as much as churning out a few worthless publications that cite each other); med students overwhelmingly follow those incentives trying to secure better residencies
Totally different if someone's self image is that of a researcher for benefit of humankind or if they pick the career because they want to drive a Porsche.