Brits can't tell their heart from their elbow
Tim 30
What on earth do you expect?? #
Posted Friday 12th June 2009 10:59 GMT

When you take Physics, Chemistry and Biology out of the national curriculum and put in some half hearted combined 'Science' thing because apparently years of daytime TV and reality TV have dumbed down the UK so much that anything hard core like oh I don't know, Ohm's Law is too difficult.
Get education sorted out!
JP Strauss
A case could be made... #
Posted Friday 12th June 2009 10:59 GMT

... for the supplied illustration that if if you selected option (4), you would also be correct, seeing as if you tug too hard on the highlighted appendage, your kidneys are pulled down into this area.
Mike Watt
So which one is it? #
Posted Friday 12th June 2009 10:59 GMT

Uhh, it's the first one, right? I always get confused between the kidneys and liver.
northern monkey
hmm... #
Posted Friday 12th June 2009 10:59 GMT
...the diagrams in that paper are different to the ones on the BBC news website (despite BBC news citing Biomed central as the source).
On their image for the pancreas I'd confidently answer if it were a who wants to be a millionaire question, but the one in the paper might give a little more pause for thought.
It concerns me if the BBC news image is the actual image that lead 50% of respondents to incorrectly locate the heart - do they not realise the heart is not just under your adam's apple??
Mycho
The kidneys are... #
Posted Friday 12th June 2009 10:59 GMT
... a little lower than in the first picture, a lot higher than the second picture, a lot lower than the third picture and the fourth picture is the brain.
Sooty
Why would we need to know? #
Posted Friday 12th June 2009 10:59 GMT
I can't think of any day to day reason why i'd *need* to know where my internal organs are. Although i have a fair idea from school. I don't need to tell a doctor i've got a pain in my kidneys, i tell the doctor where the pain is in relation to things i do know and they tell me what's causing it, thats what they're there for.
It's the same as a computer, you don't need to know about the internals of it to type a letter in word, but if you want to program one, it becomes more important.
Pete 2
How would doctors & nurses score? #
Posted Friday 12th June 2009 10:59 GMT
I can't help thinking that while their results would be better - they wouldn't be that much better. Given that the last nurse who tried to take my BP some years ago now, messed it up completely.
Number6
Speaking Organs #
Posted Friday 12th June 2009 10:59 GMT
Well, government ministers seem to be confused about which organ is for speech and which is for shit, seeing as they often have the latter coming from the organ for the former.
Deckchair
Seriously. #
Posted Friday 12th June 2009 10:59 GMT

Is it just a reason to post a story with drawing of men with their old fellas out?
Andrew 57
title required #
Posted Friday 12th June 2009 10:59 GMT
The fact that 25% of people suffering liver disease cannot identify the liver compared to 50% for healthy people means that only half those who didn't know bother to actually pay any attention once they are diagnosed.
I wonder how large the overlap is between that group and the ones who bitch about the quality of NHS care in the Daily Wail etc?
I also wonder what the figures would be for the car-equivalent: "Please identify the transmission/engine/driveshaft on the following vehicle outline."
Dave Edmondston
London dimwits, not UK #
Posted Friday 12th June 2009 10:59 GMT

"a King's College London team which quizzed 722 people from the out-patient departments of Guy’s, King’s and St Thomas’s hospitals"
Why not go the whole hog and say its a worldwide figure rather than UK? I would expect a survey which claimed the whole of the UK is stupid to take it's sample population from more than one city in one corner of the country.
Ed Blackshaw
Ok, pancreas may be a tricky one #
Posted Friday 12th June 2009 10:59 GMT
but only a quarter of people know where their LUNGS are? That's pitiful.
Anonymous Coward
And the issue is? #
Posted Friday 12th June 2009 10:59 GMT

I know where they are (hey how many know what side the liver and heart are on?), it's pretty pointless. it's not like I'm going to say.
Hey doctor, I have a intense pain in my duidenum, infringing slightly into my jejunum, do you think that my chyme may be to acidic, due to a lack of akaline in my Brunner glands??
more likely.
Doctor, i have gut ache. oooo aaaaa....
Jason Togneri
@ Sooty #
Posted Friday 12th June 2009 12:17 GMT

"It's the same as a computer, you don't need to know about the internals of it to type a letter in word, but if you want to program one, it becomes more important."
Err... not in most cases. If you're programming kernel-level code, maybe, but in most situations people who write various types of software (including operating systems) haven't the foggiest about what's actually inside the magic box they're using, and how it works.
Sarah Davis
Don't ask any more stupid questions !! #
Posted Friday 12th June 2009 12:17 GMT

it's no wonder people failed with diagrams like those, they're anatomically incorrect. The 1st is presumably lungs, which are shown the wrong size and too way low. The 2nd, presumably kidneys, slightly low and wrong orientation. The 3rd, WTF!! is our species evolving, or did this guy just eat someone elses kidneys? The 4th, Gonads!!
What was the next diagram? a circle !! with the question "Where's the corner ?"
Alexis Vallance
Disturbing #
Posted Friday 12th June 2009 12:17 GMT

"I can't think of any day to day reason why i'd *need* to know where my internal organs are. Although i have a fair idea from school. I don't need to tell a doctor i've got a pain in my kidneys, i tell the doctor where the pain is in relation to things i do know and they tell me what's causing it, thats what they're there for."
That's disturbing. It's a life skill knowing where at least some of the important organs are located.
Regarding kidneys, it's pretty obvious when they are tender, often because you're dehydrated. In your case, you'd be trudging off to the doctors, pointing out where it hurts and being told to go home and drink more fluids.
Shakje
@Ed #
Posted Friday 12th June 2009 12:17 GMT
I wouldn't think pancreas would be that difficult, any organs which aren't obvious are in the same rough region..looking at the BBC pics it isn't difficult to discount the pancreas being somewhere in your chest. Surely? And I thought everyone knew where the kidneys were..
I'd find it more interesting to know what the proportion of people who guessed each answer was, such as, did anyone pick answer D in the heart one on the BBC article?
Anonymous Coward
I thought it was... #
Posted Friday 12th June 2009 12:17 GMT

... m'ars from m'elba?
A B 3
Doctor doctor #
Posted Friday 12th June 2009 12:21 GMT

Patient: Doctor Doctor I can't find my kidneys.
Doctor: Where did you leave them last?
I'm just gonna make a run for it.
David Harper 1
Liver or kidneys? #
Posted Friday 12th June 2009 12:42 GMT
@Mike Watt "I always get confused between the kidneys and liver."
The liver is usually eaten with fava beans and a nice Chianti.
Mycho
Actually, the real problem with these images #
Posted Friday 12th June 2009 13:31 GMT
The guy has no ribs. Seriously, his abs go right the way up to his pectorals. No wonder people can't figure out what goes where after that.
Winkypop
DIY Surgery #
Posted Friday 12th June 2009 13:31 GMT

Thanks for the diagrams.
Simon B
Teaching this stuff at school might help!! #
Posted Friday 12th June 2009 13:41 GMT

If they bothered to concentrate on teaching this kinda stuff maybe more would know. As you see schooling hasn'r got any better since last time!!!!
Anonymous Coward
6-pack #
Posted Friday 12th June 2009 14:49 GMT

Obviously, lardo britain probably though this was som sort of alien...
I mean...what are all those things sitting where his stomach should be? And why doesn't his stomach extend 4 inches out each side before it joins his hips? And only 1 chin? And why aren't his thighs rubbing together?
Alien. Must be.
Anonymous Coward
Misleading diagrams #
Posted Friday 12th June 2009 14:49 GMT
Being a victim of repeated kidney stones (9 at last count), I have seen the CT scans and xrays of my kidneys many many times. None of those pictures indicate where *my* kidneys are located. Perhaps those who failed are smarter than those who devised the quiz?
Lloyd
Ahhhhhhh #
Posted Friday 12th June 2009 14:49 GMT

So that's why so many blokes come out of the toilet with pee on their shoes? And also why there are small swimming pools around urinals in general, what are they using to pee with though?
Anthony 13
Re: Disturbing #
Posted Friday 12th June 2009 14:49 GMT

Hmmm Alexis I know idenitification of *some* organs is probably pretty important for enjoying life, but i'm not sure if people are necessarily wielding those with skill ...
And next time I have pain in my kidneys I will be sure to self-diagnose and just drink some more fluids. What's the worst that could happen if I don't go to a Dr ...
mark adrian bell
Diagram 2 #
Posted Friday 12th June 2009 15:03 GMT
I disagree. They're obviously his ovaries.
northern monkey
@Mycho #
Posted Friday 12th June 2009 15:32 GMT

Sadly, anatomically speaking, our abs should go up to our pecs (the top 2 curve nicely around the bottom of our pecs).
Mine don't quite because I get bored doing situps, and where I should have a nice set of lower abs I have a reminder that I drank quite a lot of beer last weekend (and the weekend before, and before, and before). And that's with going to the gym 4 times a week. So depressing.
Anonymous Coward
Yes but how many #
Posted Friday 12th June 2009 19:32 GMT

where just returned with giant knobs drawn on them?
Mycho
@northern monkey @me #
Posted Friday 12th June 2009 19:32 GMT
My gym-ratness has lapsed a while, but I've always been familiar with abs going up to the ribs, as in: http://www.bodybuilders.com/haney8.jpg (Lee Haney, champion bodybuilder)
Allan George Dyer
Reality #
Posted Saturday 13th June 2009 22:20 GMT

Two suggestions:
1. The diagrams are not "anatomically accurate" for an average (unfit) person, the scores might have been a lot better if they'd used a typical body-shape.
2. When presented with a diagram of a naked female, males start thinking with option 4 on the kidney diagram, and the scores reflect this.
elderlybloke
Is the Spleen #
Posted Saturday 13th June 2009 22:28 GMT

more likely to be damaged by an anterior or posterior blow?
I remember that question put to me by a Surgeon 28 years ago.
I said anterior , which was wrong, but I still passed the exam.
Now all of you , remember about the spleen, where ever it is.
Jon Minhinnick
Just because they're medical, doesn't mean they know #
Posted Sunday 14th June 2009 22:37 GMT

In related news, a pregnant nurse I was talking to did not know that it was the father of her child that determines its sex.
Scientist icon, because it looks like they only teach this stuff to postgrads.
scottboy
That model #
Posted Monday 15th June 2009 11:08 GMT

is on steroids - right? Six pack, small manhood - I know the signs.
Paris, because she knows where the important organs are located.
Barney Carroll
Re: Anthony 13 #
Posted Monday 15th June 2009 19:31 GMT

"What's the worst that could happen if I don't go to a Dr"
Those of us without medical phds aren't really entitled to comment on this stuff at all — in fact I don't know why I read the article. As a civilian it's irrelevant to me.
Come to think of it, I think it's pretty outrageous that I should be expected to have any basic life skills or wherewithall whatsoever. Isn't there a king/supercomputer/alien-overlord/God taking care of all the complicated stuff anyway?
Leave it to the professionals, I say.
Paris, because she gets by without several major internal organs but knows how to use at least one.
BioTube
Of course you need to know whre your organs are #
Posted Monday 15th June 2009 23:49 GMT
How else will you put them back correctly?