Re: [Phys-l] Student engagement--GAIN

[Bernard Cleyet <bernardcleyet@redshift.com>]

I've posted some of this before in a different context.


So what else is new?

The Oct issue of "The Atlantic" includes an article by the son, IIRC,  
of a man who dies in hospital from iatrogenically acquired  
infections.  The doctors there resisted the instructions to often  
hand wash.  The acquired infections were contracted in the ICU.

Well,    over a century and a half ago, before the existence of  
"germs", Semmelweis noticed the difference in the incidence of   
"child bed fever" between the mothers cared by the nurses and the  
med. students.  He concluded the students, fresh from autopsies, were  
"infecting" the women, while the nurses did not perform autopsies.   
He ordered the students to scrub and soak their hands in chlorinated  
lime soln.  The obstetrical death rate quickly dropped to < 2% from  
18%.  Result? demotion and "constructive dismissal".  He continued  
his research in his native Budapest.   At least he's honored there by  
the eponymous University Semmelweis.


AND the Semmelweis effect:

[A great word to use in ad hominem attacks.]
"The so-called Semmelweis reflex or effect is a metaphor for a  
certain type of human behaviour characterized by reflex-like  
rejection of new knowledge because it contradicts entrenched norms,  
beliefs or paradigms—named after Semmelweis whose perfectly  
reasonable hand-washing suggestions were ridiculed and rejected by  
his contemporaries. There is some uncertainty about the origin and  
generally accepted use of the expression."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ignaz_Semmelweis

bc wonders, is the Semmelweis effect "human nature"?


p.s. Are there similar stories in ancient Greek, etc. writings?




On 2009, Dec 07, , at 13:43, John Clement wrote:

> Going back to my medical analogy, the idea of spraying carbolic  
> acid over
> patients seemed like it was very bad, but the research showed that the
> survival rate was much higher.  How could a caustic material  
> improve patient
> outcomes?  So of course the traditionalists pooh-poohed it and  
> refused to
> look at the research.  Only research can show what is actually  
> happening
> with students.  If they keep getting worse, maybe it is time to do  
> something
> radically different, or retire and let others handle the problem.   
> That is
> what happened in medicine, the older doctors retired, and the newer  
> ones
> embraces antiseptics.  The early crude spraying of carbolic acid  
> eventually
> yielded to more targeted antisepsis.