Next time researchers call, these recruits won't pick up

A study on pain management in emergency departments has inadvertently prompted a group of researchers to do a bit of soul-searching.

Melbourne medical students were enlisted to cold-call patients post-discharge to ask about their satisfaction with treatment.

The idea was method­ically based: To minimise potential bias. But they got more than they bargained for, the researchers say.

“Yelled at in a foreign language. I believe she misidentified me as a telemarketer,” one student reported.

Another said that after