BMJ: The horrifying story - the median survival time of a box of chocolates in a hospital ward is 51
10 replies, posted
The patients in the ward:
[t]http://i.imgur.com/C729rxM.jpg[/t][t]http://i.imgur.com/ayPJQYz.jpg[/t]
[quote=BMJ]
We noted that chocolate boxes emptied quickly and that determining which healthcare professionals ate the most chocolates was a common source of workplace conflict. Literature on chocolate consumption by healthcare workers in a hospital setting is lacking.
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Specifically we estimated the survival time of a chocolate in a ward setting, modelled mathematically any pattern of chocolate consumption observed, estimated if survival time was affected by chocolate brand, and investigated differences in healthcare professionals’ chocolate consumption stratified by job type.
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Ethical issues—We did not seek ethical approval for this study as no identifiable individual data were collected. We considered the effects of the availability of additional chocolate resulting in weight gain.
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Overall, 191 chocolates out of a possible 258 (74%) were observed to have been eaten. The remainder were left over and lost to follow-up.
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The median survival time of a chocolate in this study was just 51 minutes. In keeping with many biological processes, the way a box of chocolates is consumed seems to follow an exponential decay process, with an initial rapid “grab” phase. Further appropriately powered studies investigating the preference for specific chocolate flavours over a wider variety of specialty wards may prove interesting. Given the short half life of a box of chocolates, to ensure that all healthcare staff get benefits from consistent chocolate consumption it is the authors’ opinion that the frequency of chocolates delivered to wards needs to be increased and a concerted lobbying response instigated against recent manufacturers’ trends in shrinking the size of chocolate boxes.[/quote]
[url=http://www.bmj.com/content/347/bmj.f7198]Here's the article - I don't really want to quote too much as it might be paywalled.[/url]
BMJ 2013;347:f7198
Love the BMJs Christmas articles, there was one about the effectiveness of parachutes a few years back too.
I've always wanted to know how long it takes for a box of chocolates to empty if you throw it in a hospital. Is there nothing science can't do?!
So if life was like a box of chocolates, we'd only live for 51 minutes???
[QUOTE=Kyle902;43210702]So if life was like a box of chocolates, we'd only live for 51 minutes???[/QUOTE]
Apparently so, if we lived in a hospital.
In the end, we'd die an agonizing death as our chocolatey insides with their nugget and caramel fillings were ravenously plucked out and devoured by strangers.
And then we'd be thrown into a trashcan. Discarded like that. No love, no appreciation, no thankfulness given to us for the delicious sustenance we provided.
[editline]17 December 2013[/editline]
Goddamn, I'm really glad life [i]isn't[/i] like a box of chocolates.
god damn forrest gump is a horrific film
Probably because there's nothing to do in a hospital ward except feel your agonizing pain and watch shit t.v all day
[quote]Ethical issues—We did not seek ethical approval for this study as no identifiable individual data were collected. We considered the effects of the availability of additional chocolate resulting in weight gain.[/quote]
every time I see something like this in a psychology lesson I just frown really hard and wonder who'd genuinely take issue with something as small as being observed in a public place eating a chocolate out of an open box
[QUOTE=geogzm;43212979]every time I see something like this in a psychology lesson I just frown really hard and wonder who'd genuinely take issue with something as small as being observed in a public place eating a chocolate out of an open box[/QUOTE]
It's a boilerplate, form issue thing.
In this experiment, it's a trivial formality. On a student's procedural, it teaches him how to do it.
In another experiment, say [I]Observations upon Goat Fucking[/I], that's a bit heftier.
Already seen this study in action at work today and many other times too, upon opening there's usually the local "fatass" that grabs just about all the good flavours (especially the ones you wanted), then there's that girl that stores them for eternity in her draw and then yourself and others take a good amount of them. Shortly after that the manager pays you a visit and grabs a handful at first then resumes at a pace of one every other time they visit. When no one is looking the "stalker" raids the chocolate box taking usually the worst possible flavour which results in local "fatass" being angered. Occasionally office workers from foreign departments unknown to you will visit for a free sweety. Then near the end of the day the box of chocolates goes missing.
this study was performed in the UK.
[QUOTE=BMJ]We noted that chocolate boxes emptied quickly and that determining which healthcare professionals ate the most chocolates was a common source of workplace conflict. [b]Literature on chocolate consumption by healthcare workers in a hospital setting is lacking.[/b]
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well good thing this study was done, i was very curious about that.
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