Enter The Egghead

I bet you didn't know you're reading an object of scientific fascination right now, did you? That at this very moment your eyes are set upon a subject of learned minds seeking insight into the ways of the world, thirsty for knowledge and understanding, searching for a key to unlock a bit of the vast unknown that surrounds us in a blanket of ignorance.

I'm not kidding you. This is a real study that appeared in a real scientific journal:

Purpose. The characteristics of pharmacist blogs were examined.

Methods. Internet search engines, blog aggregators, and blog rolls were used to identify pharmacist blogs. Six categories were developed to evaluate blogs, including practice-based topics, identifying information, positive language, critical language, professionalism, and miscellaneous. The most recent five posts on each pharmacist blog were reviewed. Descriptive statistics were used to characterize the results.

I don't know if this project was funded. I do know that someone out there, three people actually, according to the author credits, thought this was the best use of their time. Since they sunk what I'm willing to bet was a fair amount of it into this, why don't we go ahead and see what the great minds of the profession were able to learn:

The most popular pharmacist blog in our study, with a Technorati authority score of 118 (as of January 2010), was “Your Pharmacist May Hate You."

As the kids would say, Woot!

"Blogs containing posts with language of a positive nature were less frequently indexed (32%) compared with those with critical language (57%). Overall, pharmacist bloggers in the community pharmacy setting accounted for 60% of all instances of critical language recorded."

"Community-based pharmacists were observed to write posts with unprofessional language more frequently (n = 15) than were noncommunity practitioners (n = 6)."

"Curiously, the only two pharmacist blogs ranked by Technorati not primarily characterized as “ranting” (i.e., “Science-Based Pharmacy” and “Prescribing Advice for GPs”) are authored by pharmacists outside the United States."

"there was also a troubling amount of pessimism in some of the most widely read blogs."

So what do the eggheads make of all this?

This finding raises several questions.What significance can be ascribed to “The Angry Pharmacist” and “The Angriest Pharmacist” being among the most influential and viewed pharmacist blogs? What is the impetus for such widespread vitriol? Is it a reflection of a plunging job satisfaction rate in the community sector...

Gasp! Could it be? Retail pharmacists not happy with working at a breakneck pace for 12 hours at a time with 5 people demanding their immediate attention, three of which who want to know where the bread is? My God! Who had any idea? We should fund more studies to find out what effect giving away a bag of dog food with every flu shot might have on professional satisfaction. I mean, could earning a Doctor of Pharmacy degree after 6 years of grueling academic labor and tuition payments so one can work a drive through window lead to....low job satisfaction?

There's just so much to learn. A Universe of unknowns.....

Here's the olive in the martini:

Whether such blogs actually reflect the current state of practice anywhere is debatable

So.....not only did these people not have a the slightest grip on the obvious going into this, even after unearthing more than a little evidence....they're just not sure....

And they say academics are out of touch.

I have a better idea for your next project professor. Instead of hiding behind computer screens and number crunching calculators at the library for months on end, why don't you just go on down to your local Walgreen's and put in half a days work, assuming you have a license to practice pharmacy that is. You do that and I'll betcha your next little article will have a headline something like, "ALL PEOPLE SUCK PENIS"

You're also far more likely to come back with a clue than you ever will be writing bullshit like this. Take it from me, author of the most popular pharmacist blog in your study. The only thing you've managed to prove is that you have no fucking idea.