The Corpus Callosum

Dumbest CME Question Ever

Posted by Joseph j7uy5 on December 21, 2006
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This was one of those snap quizzes, where you read an article, answer a
couple questions, and get 0.25 CME credits. It had to do with
biomarkers for cardiac risk.  After plowing through a ton of
obscure information about CRP, urinary albumin-to-creatinine ratio, and
things like that, I get to the test questions:

A
65-year-old man with a history of diabetes, hypertension, and
dyslipidemia presents with chest pain. He is a nonsmoker. Which of the
following is not a contributing risk factor for the
development of cardiovascular disease in this patient?  ( class="cmetag">Required for credit)
  name="option-15343" type="radio"> Diabetes
  value="60890" name="option-15343" type="radio"> Smoking
  name="option-15343" type="radio"> Hypertension
  name="option-15343" type="radio"> Dyslipidemia

Gee, let’s see…he’s a nonsmoker.  Maybe smoking is not a
risk factor for him, do ya think?

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Comments

  1. #1 John McKay
    December 21, 2006

    So, it’s really just a reading comprehension test.

  2. #2 whomever1
    December 21, 2006

    It doesn’t say he was the one who was smoking–what if second-hand smoke is a risk factor? It’s always possible to over-think these things, tho.

  3. #3 Jon Mikel
    December 22, 2006

    Funny… but I bet that lots of people answer this in the wrong way.

  4. #4 csrster
    December 22, 2006

    No kidding. I’m _still_ trying to work out what it has to do with Coronal Mass Ejections.

  5. #5 doctorgoo
    December 22, 2006

    secondhand smoke? No-no.

    He was just a victim of involuntary smoking.

  6. #6 PhysioProf
    December 23, 2006

    This reminds me of some of the questions on the multi-state legal ethics exam. There were some substantive technical questions that addressed important information, but some were like this:

    “A new client gives you a $25,000 retainer check. You
    (a) use it to buy tickets to Vegas for you and your girlfried, and expect to make up the difference at the blackjack table.
    (b) cash the check and put the cash in a shoebox under your desk.
    (c) deposit it in an interest-bearing bank escrow account for the benefit of your client.
    (d) use it to play the penny stock market, and keep the profits for yourself.