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Research Christmas 2011: Surgery

Orthopaedic surgeons: as strong as an ox and almost twice as clever? Multicentre prospective comparative study

BMJ 2011; 343 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.d7506 (Published 15 December 2011) Cite this as: BMJ 2011;343:d7506

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Re: Orthopaedic surgeons: as strong as an ox and almost twice as clever? Multicentre prospective comparative study

Dear Sir,

As anaesthetists, we read with great interest and good humour the article by Subramanian et al. (BMJ 2011;343:d7506) comparing grip strength and intelligence between our esteemed orthopaedic surgical colleagues and ourselves. We agree that a revision of the typical comedic repertoire concerning orthopaedic surgeons is long overdue.

Unfortunately and in relation to the authors themselves, all of whom are orthopaedic surgeons, this study does not allow us to reject the assumption stated in the paper’s introduction, namely that orthopaedic surgeons are only half as intelligent as oxen! —An empirical study must always be evaluated on the basis of the assumptions it formulates in its introduction.

In their introduction, the authors point out that orthopaedic surgeons are generally compared with primates and cast doubt on the hypothesis that they are “as strong as an ox but half as bright”. To test these doubts and in order to improve their unscientific image frequently presented in cartoons, they compared orthopaedic surgeons with their “friends”, the anaesthetists.

Sadly, the study suffers from severe errors in methodology:
The selection of participants in the study was not random; instead, participation was voluntary. Intelligent anaesthetists will of course immediately have recognized the undisclosed intention to upgrade orthopaedic surgeons and free them from the negative image of ‘stupidity’. Thus, they will obviously have declined to participate in the study. The converse would have occurred among the orthopaedic surgeons: the most intelligent among them wanting to prove that they are indeed smarter than primates and would of course take part.

The samples are therefore not representative of all orthopaedic surgeons and anaesthetists, but only for the subgroups of anaesthetists and surgeons voluntarily taking part. Inevitably therefore, the study is biased, since it is obvious that the least intelligent anaesthetists and the most intelligent orthopaedic surgeons took part. This lack of representation is also shown by the unexpectedly low IQ values of anaesthetists, which do not correspond to the level of individuals with a university education.

Due to the study’s methodological flaws, unfortunately we have to contend that the assumption expressed in the introduction should be upheld: namely that the orthopaedic surgeon is indeed “as strong as an ox but only half as bright”.

Yours most kindly

Professor Dr.Hugo Van Aken
Secretary General of the German Society of Anaesthesia and Intensive Care Medicine
Department of Anaesthesiology and Intensive Care Medicine
University Hospital Muenster
Albert-Schweitzer-Campus 1, Gebäude A 1
48149 Muenster, Germany
e-mail: hva@uni-muenster.de

Dr. Sir Peter Simpson
Past President of the Royal College of Anaesthetists
E-mail: pjsimpson@blueyonder.co.uk

Professor Dr. Eberhard Kochs
President of the European Society of Anaesthesiology
Department of Anaesthesiology
Technical University of Munich
Ismaningerstr. 22
81675 Munich, Germany
E-mail: E.F.Kochs@lrz.tu-muenchen.de

Professor Dr. Christian Werner
Member of the Board of Trustees, International Anesthesia Research Society
Department of Anaesthesiology
Johannes Gutenberg-University, Mainz
Langenbeckstr. 1
55131 Mainz, Germany
E-mail: wernerc@uni-mainz.de

Professor Dr. Dr. Gerhard Brodner
Master of Psychology
Department of Anaesthesia, Intensive Care Medicine and Pain Therapy
Fachklinik Hornheide
Dorbaumstr. 300
48 157 Muenster, Germany
E-mail: gerhard.brodner@fachklinik-hornheide.de

Competing interests: No competing interests

16 January 2012
Gerhard Brodner
Anaesthetist
Professor Dr.Hugo Van Aken, Secretary General of the German Society of Anaesthesia and Intensive Care Medicine, Dr. Sir Peter Simpson, Past President of the Royal College of Anaesthetists, Professor Dr. Eberhard Kochs, President of the European Society of Anaesthesiology, Professor Dr. Christian Werner, Member of the Board of Trustees, International Anesthesia Research Society
Fachklinik Hornheide
Dorbaumstr. 300; 48157 Muenster, Germany