More Harm Than Good? How Messages That Interrupt Can Make Us Vulnerable

More Harm Than Good? How Messages That Interrupt Can Make Us Vulnerable

System-generated alerts are ubiquitous in personal computing and, with the proliferation of mobile devices, daily activity. While these interruptions provide timely information, research shows they come at a high cost in terms of increased stress and decreased productivity. This is due to dual-task interference (DTI), a cognitive limitation in which even simple tasks cannot be simultaneously pe...

Ultrasound: more harm than good?

PSA in screening for prostate cancer: more good than harm or more harm than good?

The aim of screening for prostate cancer is to detect malignancy at an early and potentially treatable stage, thereby increasing the chance of cure. Although serum PSA has been used as a screening test for prostate cancer for over 20 years, the practice is controversial. As a screening test for prostate cancer, PSA lacks sensitivity and specificity for early disease. Furthermore, screening may ...

Guidelines have done more harm than good.

Practice guidelines have proliferated in medicine but their impact on actual practice and outcomes is difficult, if not impossible, to quantify. Though guidelines are based largely on observational data and expert opinion, it is widely believed that adherence to them leads to improved outcomes. Data to support this belief simply does not exist. If guidelines are universally ignored, their impac...

Residency Postinterview Communications: More Harm Than Good?

T he National Resident Matching Program (NRMP) was designed to provide a fair, reproducible, and confidential means of matching medical students and graduate medical education programs. During the recruitment process, residency programs and applicants actively communicate with one another to gather information to make more informed decisions. When these communications occur after interviews, bu...