{"id":1203,"date":"2012-11-10T07:09:17","date_gmt":"2012-11-10T07:09:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/personalpolishing.wordpress.com\/?p=1203"},"modified":"2012-11-10T07:09:17","modified_gmt":"2012-11-10T07:09:17","slug":"jocks-make-better-docs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/leadershipshape.com\/wardroom\/jocks-make-better-docs\/","title":{"rendered":"Jocks Make Better Docs"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Carole Jackson<\/strong> Bottom Line Health<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Want to find out if a doctor is any good?<\/p>\n

Sure, you can Google his\/her name to find out where he trained or what medical awards he has won\u00e2\u0080\u00a6or ask friends and relatives for their opinions.<\/p>\n

But what about asking if he excelled at playing a team sport in his younger years?<\/p>\n

It may seem like a strange question, but a recent study suggests that it\u00e2\u0080\u0099s not, well, completely out of left field.<\/p>\n

Researchers in the department of otolaryngology\u00e2\u0080\u0093head and neck surgery at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis found that prior excellence in a team sport was a better predictor of overall performance as a doctor in their residency program than the more standard criteria of medical school grades, standardized test scores and letters of recommendation.<\/p>\n

SPORTS TRUMP SCORES<\/h4>\n

Who would have thought that joining, say, a soccer team would boost medical skills more than cramming for an exam?<\/p>\n

For the study, researchers asked faculty members to rate 46 recent graduates of the residency program with regard to their overall quality as clinicians. The faculty members rated the graduates using a five-point scale, with 1 meaning \u00e2\u0080\u009cshould not have graduated\u00e2\u0080\u009d and 5 meaning \u00e2\u0080\u009coutstanding\u00e2\u0080\u0094I would choose him\/her as my doctor.\u00e2\u0080\u009d<\/p>\n

The researchers then reviewed each graduate\u00e2\u0080\u0099s residency application, looking at factors such as medical school grades, standardized test scores and letters of recommendation, which all are standard criteria used to judge an applicant\u00e2\u0080\u0099s likelihood of success in a residency program.<\/p>\n

They also sent the graduates a simple questionnaire regarding their pre-residency experience in both athletics and music.<\/p>\n

Questions included\u00e2\u0080\u00a6<\/p>\n