View a FREE sample

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

Short Answer Questions

1. What is the second most common reason why employees miss work?

2. How many pages were in the book that listed the schedule of programs at the surgeons convention?

3. What year were the articles by Joseph Lister that were for sale?

4. Who first proposed that a computer could read an EKG better than a human could?

5. How do patients leave the operating room at Shouldice after having surgery?

Short Essay Questions

1. What one study did Gawande find that linked increased traffic accidents to Friday the thirteenth?

2. Where can doctors candidly discuss medical mistakes?

3. Why was there no reason to operate on Quinlan's back?

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

5. How is Shouldice Hospital designed for hernia patients?

6. What is a Terribly Quiet Chat and how effective can one be?

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

8. Why do many experts believe that the M&M is a shabby approach to analyzing error and improving performance in medicine?

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

10. Why was Gawande concerned about the patient who had been shot in the buttock?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Using examples from Complications, argue whether the belief in superstitions is anecdotal or scientific.

Essay Topic 2

Using examples from the book, argue whether child abuse can or cannot be proven using scientific methods.

Essay Topic 3

Discuss how and why autopsy can be used as a tool in medicine.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 952 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample