Here's an article from 2011 on the topic. It has some math in it which is daunting, but it's not that bad. There is an effort here at UMich to find a way to integrate medical student assessment longitudinally and this might be the right sort of approach to take.
Some questions to ask:
Let's say I collect the winning lottery numbers from the last 10 years. I sped a couple months trying to find some pattern---any pattern---that generates numbers that would have won a few times. It's even possible I might come up with a model that is statistically significant and accounts for some decent percentage of the variance in lottery numbers.
Have I found a way to predict future lottery draws? Will it make me rich? Why not? But it's statistically significant and predicts an acceptable percentage of variance. Why isn't that enough?
In contrast, if I approach the problem from a Bayesian standpoint, the first thing I have to do is defend the notion that such a model can be made: that is my prior probability and I can't run an analysis without it. In other words, the plausibility of the research is part of the research.
There's a downside to this, of course. If people don't believe a hypothesis is likely to be true, the insightful researcher who suspects it is will have a harder time using a Bayesian approach than a traditional approach.
But that's because Bayesian's don't let you get away with post hoc reasoning. And that's a pretty neat trick.
]]>If you've never heard of the IgNobels, take some time out to peruse the list of winners, present and past. The prize rewards that strange kind of research that seems silly but is really profound. My favorite this year went to John Perry at Stanford for his 1996 article, "How to Procrastinate and Still Get Things Done". If anyone wants to collaborate on a study examining structured procrastination habits of undergraduate medical students and senior clinicians, let me know: I've been looking for something to do to avoid some more important and pressing tasks.
]]>Available online now. Read it!
]]>"You might be able to produce a good introduction without following my formula but if you have trouble producing one that pleases other people (and you would like to finish it and get on with your life), then I suggest you follow my formula."
]]>We're kicking off the 2011-2012 Journal Club with a prelude to Larry Gruppen's Brownbag talk on 10/12, tentatively titled "Competency-based education: defining the competencies of medical educators."
Get a head start and read it early, submit comments here (likes, dislikes, follow-up citations, etc.). As always, article suggests are always welcome.
]]>Downs suggests reading this paper:
Strategies for Promoting Healthier Food Choice which has some really cool, unexpected results about the impact of food labeling on health behaviors. From the article:
"In combination, these studies suggest that providing calorie information may have small effects on food choices, but may also produce perverse effects, such as promoting higher calorie consumption among dieters."
Read on!
]]>Dr. Kolars (with some collegues from Mayo) studied causes of physician distress in residents nationwide. A survey of over 16,000 residents found about 15% of residents were very upset about their lives, about 52% had higher levels of emotional exhaustion. These symptoms were associated with high levels of debt and lower levels of medical knowledge.
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This is the kind of constructive criticism our clinics need, I fear.
I see nothing good coming of this. Is there any current research on simple tricks of learning that won't give us all headaches in the future? Comment below if you know any!
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