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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. What was the woman's alcohol level that Gawande had to attend to on a crisp winter Friday?

2. Who was the gynecologist from Ohio who subjected hundreds of women when they had been anesthetized for other procedures to bizarre disfiguring procedures that he called the Surgery of Love?

3. What surgery did Gawande assist with for a seventy-five-year-old woman?

4. How many salespeople attended the surgeons convention?

5. How much do hernia operations cost at Shouldice Hospital?

Short Essay Questions

1. What type of complications had occurred from residents putting in a central line?

2. What was it like at Gawande's hospital when it was time for the annual surgeons convention?

3. How is Shouldice Hospital designed for hernia patients?

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 shift like that Gawande worked on Friday the thirteenth?

6. What is the Texas-sharpshooter fallacy?

7. Why does it take so long before colleagues take effective action against a bad doctor?

8. Why is there often no mechanical explanation for severe back pain?

9. What did Gawande have in his pockets during his first weeks of surgical training?

10. What is the most important criteria for becoming a surgeon?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Explain the two meanings of the title Complications. Use examples from the book.

Essay Topic 2

Discuss the physician's dodge and why Gawande believes that it is a necessary part of medical training.

Essay Topic 3

Discuss the mysteries and unknowns of medicine and the struggles of what to do with them. Use examples from the book.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 1,010 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample