The bandwagon effect

Conclusion

Although surgery has a glorious past that includes numerous seminal contributions to the medical sciences, at times progress has been and continues to be impeded by the bandwagon effect. Although many factors contribute to this phenomenon, the major obstacle that is sometimes in the pathway to truth is ourselves. The rigor of our clinical investigation has been less than it should be and our educational templates have overemphasized memorization of facts and creating clones of ourselves rather than fostering independent critical thinking by our students.

Just as good basic science research is preceded by years of training in the laboratory, good clinical research will depend on well-prepared, educated, and meticulous clinical scientists. Recent initiatives, such as the “Clinical Trials” course sponsored by the American College of Surgeons and the Clinical Investigators Preparatory Program (CIPP) funded by the National Institutes of Health, are promising aids for the development of effective clinical scientists.

Finally, we need to continually remind ourselves of the observation that “knowledge is always tentative and can only be made incrementally more certain with increasing data or evidence.” direct our energies toward forming the basis of a more complete knowledge. It is our challenge to make certain that the evidence generated in our clinical laboratories and published in our journals is reliable and that we and surgeons of the future can temper it with critical judgment as it is applied in the optimal care of our patients.