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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. On an EKG, what is the downstroke at the start of a heart beat called?

2. How long might it take in most hospitals to repair a hernia?

3. What percent of Americans does a 1995 poll show believe that the moon alters individual behavior?

4. How many studies did Gawande find when doing a computer search to attempt to identify "circalunidian" cycles?

5. How long is the apprenticeship at Shouldice Hospital?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is an EKG?

2. How is Shouldice Hospital designed for hernia patients?

3. How do surgeons learn to do new procedures once they are out of training?

4. Describe the Swedish study designed to see whether a computer could more accurately read an EKG than could a human.

5. What was the first program that Gawande attended at the surgeons convention?

6. Why did Rowland Scott Quinlan have to give up his firm to his partners?

7. What are some problems with malpractice suits as a remedy for preventing harm to patients?

8. What was Hank Goodman's reputation before he lost his license?

9. Why did Gawande have to leave a teenage knifing victim and go tend to another emergency?

10. Why aren't compassion and technology necessarily incompatible?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Using examples from the book, discuss what happens when the simplicities of science come up against the complexities of individual lives.

Essay Topic 2

Argue whether or not medicine can or should be automated as much as possible. Use examples from Complications.

Essay Topic 3

Discuss the pros and cons of having doctors agree in advance what should be done in the uncertain situations that arise (spell out actions ahead of time to remove the guesswork and get some advantage of group decision). Use examples from the book.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 1,034 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample