PARIS, Dec 22: Ever wondered why, in hospital dramas, surgeons are usually tall, handsome and confident whereas ward doctors look smaller, rundown and put-upon? An offbeat research paper that appears in British Medical Journal (BMJ) this weekend puts this anecdotal evidence to the test.
Four doctors at the Hospital Clinic at the University of Barcelona, Spain, recruited 12 surgeons and 14 physicians, all of them men, for a quirky study into medical looks.
The volunteers filled in a questionnaire giving their vital statistics and sent their pictures.
These were matched against photographs of a “control” group of movie stars in medical roles. Both sets were assessed for handsomeness by a female jury comprising three doctors and five nurses.
Unsurprisingly, the actors -- George Clooney, Harrison Ford, Patrick Dempsey and Hugh Laurie -- came out tops, gaining an average droolability score of 5.96.
That compared with 4.39 for the real-life surgeons, whereas the physicians trailed rather pitifully, with 3.65. But, curiously, it also transpired that the surgeons were in fact significantly taller than the physicians -- by nearly seven centimetres (three inches) on average.
It seems unfair that surgeons should win out in looks and height, but there could be “evolutionary” reasons, the authors say, their tongues firmly in cheek.
“Their extra height makes them more likely to be masters and commanders, and gives them a better view of the operating room, including the patient lying on the table,” they suggest.
They admit, though, that the clog-type shoes worn in the operating theatre would also give a surgeon a lift -- literally.
The surgeons' fresh good looks are also helped by the fact that they work in the cleaner, cooler air of the operating room, where there is a higher oxygen content. Plus they get to wear surgical masks, “a barrier to facial microtrauma,” and this could keep their complexion rosy.
In contrast, “physicians tend to hang heavy stethoscopes around their necks, which bows their heads forward and reduces their perceived height,” the study wryly suggests.—AFP
