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It was an actual study ... NZ researchers found waiting room mags are old because people keep stealing them. Picture: Thinkstock Source: Supplied
FOR those who have ever wondered why magazines in your doctor’s waiting room are tattered, out-of-date and serious, the answer’s simple: patients are stealing the new gossip rags.
An Auckland University study published in BMJ (yes, true) has found that almost half of the magazines in an Auckland GP’s waiting room had disappeared within a month.
Almost 60 per cent of the stolen copies were less than two months old and all of the stolen editions were gossip magazines.
Bruce Arroll, a GP and Auckland Medical School professor, set out to answer the “burning research question†of the lack of up-to-date magazines in his waiting room after growing fed up with complaints.
The entertaining study is featured in the journal’s satirical Christmas issue, applying scientific scrutiny to lighthearted subjects.
Evidence ... this chart shows the ‘survival probability’ for gossipy and non-gossipy magazines in a waiting room. Picture: TheBMJ.com Source: Supplied
For the study, the researchers put 87 magazines in the waiting room of a south Auckland GP, making sure there was a mix of new and old magazines, and of gossip and non-gossipy magazines.
Gossip magazines were defined as having five or more photographs of celebrities on the front cover.
The researchers agreed to terminate the study before all the gossip magazines had disappeared for “fear of a waiting room riotâ€.
“The clinic staff were asked to leave the magazines alone, and any failure to comply could result in the ‘death penalty’ (actual words used),†the study authors wrote.
“If the death penalty had been invoked we would have sought retrospective approval by an ethics committee.â€
‘Waiting room science’ ... researchers found almost half of the magazines in an Auckland GP’s waiting room disappeared within a month. Picture: Nathan Edwards Source: News Corp Australia
Within a month, during which time about 3000 patients had been in the waiting room, only one of the gossip magazines was left — but all of the non-gossipy magazines remained.
“Practices should consider using old copies of the Economist and Time magazine as a first step towards saving costs,†Prof Arroll said.
He said future research in “waiting room science†could include identifying “who or what†is responsible for removing magazines, developing a “find my magazine†smart phone app, and examining the effects on receptionists in a waiting room without gossip magazines.