Of Bunnies and Clowns in the Wards

In case you missed this April Fools study: “Randomized Trial of Facilitated Family-Centered Rounds,” Brian K. Alverson, Karen M. Wilson and Samir S. Shah, Hospital Pediatrics, 2013;3;156. The authors, at Brown University, the University of Colorado School of Medicine, and the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, explain, sort of: “Family-centered rounds (FCR) are becoming […]

Calculations: Insurance for clowns

Clown insurance is for clowns, not for persons potentially afflicted by them. Insurance companies offer it to clowns because clowns – no matter what you may thoughtlessly think of them – are people, and bad things can happen to anyone. Clown insurance exists, as a distinct product category, thanks to the mathematical discipline called risk assessment. […]

The Clown, The Kids, the Botulinum Toxin

Experiments in Denmark explore what happens when you combine a clown, several children, and injections of botulinum toxin. Details are in the study: “Effect of a clown’s presence at botulinum toxin injections in children: a randomized, prospective study,” Lars Kjaersgaard Hansen, Maria Kibaek, Torben Martinussen [pictured here], Lene Kragh, Mogens Hej, Journal of Pain Research, vol. […]

The broom cross

Clown ministry, described here recently, has more aspects than we had realized. Scholars can delight in The Layperson’s Guide to Clown Ministry, written by Geoff Turner. The Layperson’s Guide displays this photo, with an accompanying explanation: The Broom Cross What we have here is a very special cross. The cross beam is a yardstick to […]