Beards, academia, and anaesthesia: a controlled study

doi:10.1136/bmj.313.7072.1643a

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John Curran, consultant anaesthetista,
Brian Pollard, senior lecturer in anaesthesiab

^a Nottingham City Hospital, Nottingham NG5 1PB
^b Manchester Royal Infirmary, Manchester M13 9WL

Correspondence to: Dr Curran.

One of us (BP) believes that beards, a natural state of affairs, signify wisdom. The other thinks that they are dirty, suiting woolly minded academics disinclined to arise for the morning ablutions. A controlled study was needed.

Subjects, methods, and results

All 62 readily identifiable male professors, readers, and senior lecturers and 83 NHS consultants in anaesthesia unwittingly took part in a controlled study. The NHS group was randomly selected from a seated block at a recent anaesthetic scientific meeting, data being recorded on the back of its programme (2B blunt pencil). Academics' details were recorded into an electronic spreadsheet (Excel version 6 running on an …