1. Surgery and Germs Joseph Li
1. Surgery and Germs Joseph Lister (5 April 1827 – 10 February1912 and for whom Listerine is named!) was a British physician whowas interested in the role of bacteria in human infections. Hesuspected that germs were involved in transmitting infection, andso he tried using carbolic acid as an operating room disinfectant.In 75 amputations, he used carbolic acid 40 times. Of the 40amputations using carbolic acid, 34 of the patients lived. In the35 amputations without carbolic acid, 19 lived. The question ofinterest is whether carbolic acid is effective in increasing thechances of surviving an amputation. a. Is this an experiment or anobservational study? b. Are the sample sizes large enough to usethe normal approximation? c. Use Minitab, R or a calculator,estimate the difference in survival rates using a 95% confidenceinterval and interpret your interval in context. d. Do you have anyconcerns about the ethics of this study?
Answer:
The question of interest is whether carbolic acid is effectivein increasing the chances of surviving an amputation.
a. Is this an experiment or an observational study?
Observational study as there is no treatment being utilisedwhile doing the test.
b. Are the sample sizes large enough to use the normalapproximation?
Yes both the samples are large for us to use the normalapproximation.
d. Do you have any concerns about the ethics of this study?
The concern can be we surgeons should not do experimentation onpeoples lives.
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