10 Potential Conversation Starters From The Medical Literature

In this post a list of peculiar journal articles are highlighted, which may serve as conversation starters from the medical literature.

Authored by: Timothy P. Gauthier, Pharm.D., BCPS, BCIDP

Social events like holiday parties or kids birthday parties can be unpredictable. Sometimes you know everyone and it is a lot of fun. Sometimes you do not know many people and you are stuck trying to make conversation with new acquaintances.

In this article, I provide a list of interesting journal articles that might help stimulate some interesting conversation at your next social gathering. Take note that some of these topics are not appropriate for all audiences. Particularly for non-medical professionals proceed with caution on a couple of these.

Composing this list it quickly became clear that the BMJ Christmas Issue is a wonderful source for peculiar content from the medical community, so shout out to BMJ for being so fantastic! Four of the ten articles on the list hail from BMJ.

Here is a list of peculiar journal articles that might serve as potential conversation starters from the medical literature at your next social event.

1. The Art of Pimping. JAMA. 2009.

Yes an article about pimping is published in JAMA. From the article – “…pimping occurs when an attending physician (the Pimper) poses a series of difficult questions to a resident or medical student (the Pimpee)…” This topic of conversation may be a fun transition to talking about life experiences as a trainee or trainer.

2. Everything is awesome: Don’t forget the Lego. Journal of Pediatrics and Child Health. 2018.

What happens when a human swallows a lego head? This is a fun article, including the SHAT score (stool hardness and transit) and the FART score (found and retrieved time).

3. The science behind “man flu”. BMJ. 2015.

Is “man flu” an actual thing? In this article Kyle Sue explores whether men are wimps or just immunologically inferior. I know my wife will tell you that “man flu” is a real thing. This can be a fun topic to discuss with friends.

4. No time to die: An in-depth analysis of James Bond’s exposure to infectious agents. Travel Medicine and Infectious Diseases. 2021.

How many sexual partners did Bond have and what he may have been at risk for acquiring or transmitting? Did Bond ever wash his hands? What was Bond exposed to on his missions? This is a fun article at the crossroads of infectious diseases and pop culture.

5. Misspelling of antimicrobials by healthcare professionals. BMJ. 2022.

This fun article provides a lovely table of novel misspellings, which includes proposed definitions. For example, “Aztreoman – aztreonam by day, aztreoman by night” and “Caspafungin – the friendly ghost.”

6. Were James Bond’s drinks shaken because of alcohol induced tremor? BMJ. 2013.

Back to our favorite international spy, but this time how about his alcohol use? I had not really noticed, but it turns out he really does like his adult beverages!

7. Parachute use to prevent death and major trauma when jumping from aircraft: randomized controlled trial. BJM 2018. and Parachute use to prevent death and major trauma related to gravitational challenge: systematic review of randomised controlled trials. BMJ. 2003.

Is observational data good enough to determine if something is true or not? Do we really need a randomized controlled trial to determine something? This is a fun article that pokes us to consider our opinions about methodology and significance in what we accept as truth.

8. Confronting risks of mirror life. Science. 2024.

This is like something out of a science fiction movie. Except this is real. It may be a bit heavy to bring up organic chemistry concepts during regular conversation, but overall many people enjoy science fiction and this new article may lead to a fun conversation.

9. A Viper Bite. NEJM Images in Clinical Medicine. 2015. (warning graphic image)

I once read that this was the most viewed item from the NEJM Images in Clinical Medicine series. It is certainly not an appropriate topic of conversation for all audiences, but for the right group, it could be okay.

10. Public perception of pharmacists: Film and television portrayals from 1970 to 2013. Journal of the American Pharmacists Association. 2015.

What is the public perception of pharmacists? Are they most often portrayed in a positive, negative, or neutral light within film and television? This may be a fun topic for discussion perceptions versus reality.

HONORABLE MENTION (sourced from social media)

Thank you to the folks on Bluesky and X who suggested these additional articles!