An ongoing dialogue on HIV/AIDS, infectious diseases,
December 16th, 2018
ID Doctors Are Lousy Golfers, and Time to Pick Your Favorite Cartoon Caption
Some might wonder how people who take care of patients, who deal with illness and suffering on a regular basis, can find humor in medicine.
Alternatively, one could take the opposite perspective — with so much misery around all the time, how could we survive without humor?
Clearly the folks at The BMJ are in the latter camp, as each year they bring us some high-quality chuckles with their annual Christmas issue.
Take this recently published paper on golf habits among doctors, a leisure activity apparently quite unpopular among us ID physicians (my explanation below):
That's because we don't want to catch Lyme, anaplasmosis, ehrlichiosis, RMSF, Powassan, etc. https://t.co/ZSxMwro6mI
— Paul Sax (@PaulSaxMD) December 11, 2018
Note that there was also a strong inverse correlation between the percentage of golfers in a given specialty and their average golf handicap (whatever that is). I’m pretty sure this means that we stink at it.
Now it’s time to add to the holiday fun by offering you the chance to vote on your favorite caption from our last contest.
As always, we used a rigorously tested algorithm to come up with the finalists. This fully automated process harnesses the full computing power of the NEJM Journal Watch servers, slowing other publishing activities to a crawl.
First the cartoon (thank you again, Anne Sax), then your vote, please.
Which is the funniest cartoon caption?
- "Any recent travel?" (39%, 171 Votes)
- "I know what the Internet says, but Lyme disease is not endemic here." (28%, 125 Votes)
- "I think my water just broke." (20%, 90 Votes)
- "As a matter of fact, a lot of patients complain about inconvenient parking. Why do you ask?" (13%, 57 Votes)
Total Voters: 443
5 Responses to “ID Doctors Are Lousy Golfers, and Time to Pick Your Favorite Cartoon Caption”
Paul E. Sax, MD
Contributing Editor
NEJM Journal Watch
Infectious Diseases
Biography | Disclosures | Summaries
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Of course the cartoon caption, “I know what the Internet says, but Lyme disease is not endemic here.” (34%, 21 Votes), is winning; mostly ID people are voting. OB’s probably voted for “…my water just broke.” And who says we don’t have a sense of humor? I laugh at your face!
Heh, I am a psychiatrist in the US. Don’t we count? We re interested in freeing folks of their inhibitions and, on the other hand, to help others keep their affect under control. Wouldn’t that combination lead us to be the best golfers, with the lowest handicaps, and very nice to our orthopedic surgery colleagues, should we vanquish them on the links. Just saying!
Timothy Dugan, M.D. Cambridge health Alliance, Harvard Medical School
Thank goodness you’re around to make me laugh!!!
“No one at the hospital appreciated me. My only equipment were a reclining chair and pina coladas.”
When I was a young doctor, fresh out of residency, my father asked me why I didn’t play golf. “Because it doesn’t interest me,” I replied. “But every doctor I know plays golf!” he said. “Which doctors do you know?” “The ones I play golf with.”
I tried to explain the concept of selection bias to him, but he thought I was just being arrogant.