Disappearing teaspoons: Method of spoon surveillance was not adequate

doi:10.1136/bmj.332.7533.121-b

BMJ 2006;332:121 (14 January), doi:10.1136/bmj.332.7533.121-b

Letter

Disappearing teaspoons

Method of spoon surveillance was not adequate

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

Editor—I am not convinced that the method of spoon surveillanceused by Lim et al (scanning desktops and other immediately visiblesurfaces) is entirely adequate.¹

Not unlike the errant single socks cited by multiple other respondentson bmj.com,² teaspoons are unlikely to remain on immediatelyvisible surfaces. Inevitable entropy aside, the teaspoon isa uniquely versatile implement (a search on www.google.com of"teaspoon" (30 December 2005, 1746 eastern standard time (EST))yielded 7.2 million results; a search of "use a teaspoon" (quotesincluded) 15 700 (30 December 2005, 1748 hrs EST)).

Teaspoons in my own department are used to prop open doors,pry open file cabinets, and strategically position mousetrapsin that annoyingly narrow space between the refrigerator andthe wall. Scanning only visible surfaces may well result inundercounting of remaining spoons, or in counting only thoseutensils still used for stirring.

As it is unclear what exactly . . . [Full text of this article]

David A Silver, fellow in cardiothoracic and intensive care anaesthesia

Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA 02115, USA dsilver1@partners.org

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