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20
| 2 | 2008
Klinisk Biokemi i Norden
Beatles classical “Norwegian wood” would be suitable,
even though Finse is above tree level. Unfortunately
no one could remember the text beside “isn’t it good?
Norwegian wood!”
As one may notice, there was a strong selection bias
according to sex (women) and civil status (married or
in relationship). Regarding the fact that the population
of clinical biochemist in Scandinavia is a threatened
species it might be wise to take advantage of the oppor-
tunities that arise when putting equal numbers of both
sexes together in a remote location. It works in Reality
shows (e.g. Big Brother or Paradise Hotel) and could
be considered in the recruitment and maintenance
of the population of doctors working within clinical
biochemistry.
Conclusion:
We often hear the sentence “publish or perish”. But if
there is not anyone to publish, we will perish anyway.
The secondary aim of the course (team building and
networking) was more than fulfilled. In a small spe-
cialty it is important that we know each other and have
a “good chemistry”. A course like this encourages young
colleges to continue specialist training in the field of
clinical biochemistry.
The golden goal was to write an almost complete
article. This was only fulfilled in two of five cases, but eve-
rybody produced a complete manuscript before deadline.
Based on the oral evaluation it was clear that the partici-
pants had become more familiar with scientific writing.
The lectures were of great value, but most important
was writing with peers and getting inspired in plenary
discussions and by the mentors. The idea of a course like
this is unique in the scientific world and offers a great
potential in future training in scientific writing. Therefore
the authors hope that the concept will be copied by col-
leagues in other scientific fields, since the challenges in
writing a scientific article is universal. Even though the
participants were more than satisfied, one must remem-
ber that the long term effects of this experiment are not
known. Further studies are needed in order to determine
this. While we are still waiting for the article fromFinse to
be accepted for publication, we can answer the question:
“Can you learn to write a scientific article in four days?”.
The answer is yes and some can even do it in three!
1
Day RA, Gastel B. How to Write and Publish a Scientific
Paper. Cambridge University Press, 2006 (Sixth Edition),
ISBN 0-521-67167-1
2
Kristoffer Hellsings sångbok för kliniska kemister,
Supplement 2002
(Fortsat fra side 19)
