The Eighth Law Of Trauma

All trauma professionals need to keep up with the current thinking in their field. There are a variety of ways to do this, including lectures, courses, online curricula, meetings, and reading journal articles.

The last method requires a bit of skill and patience. Many research papers are dry, long, and hard to read. Quite a few people do not have the patience to wade through them, and get lost in all the details. The natural tendency is to just read the abstract. It’s quick, easy, and the conclusion is right there, right?

Read the entire paper!

Unfortunately, there is a lot of opportunity for mayhem when reading scientific papers. The title might not match up with the conclusions. The conclusions may not fully agree with the data. And the abstract generally does not give enough information to draw a conclusion. You must read the entire thing and think critically about it!

Bottom line: Yes, it takes practice. But you will find that it gets easier over time. And you will be surprised at how many times the abstract actually says the opposite of what was outlined in the body of the paper.

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