Specialernes juleduel: Hvem har det ultimative julemandsgreb?

SUMMARY Background: During the holiday season, many hospitals celebrate with traditional festivities featuring Santa Claus carrying a heavy sack of gifts. Yet, the process of selecting who plays Santa remains unclear. Anecdotally, surgical specialties are favored, possibly due to presumed superior grip strength. To understand this further, we examined the next steps in evaluating suitability for Santa roles. Methods: To investigate, grip strength was measured using a handheld dynamometer, and participants completed questionnaires detailing their medical specialty, regular physical activity, and enthusiasm for working with children and night shifts. These are key traits for a potential Santa, linking physical ability with role enthusiasm. Results: Surgical specialties flexed their muscles, showing significantly higher average grip strength than medical and paraclinical specialties (p = 0.032). When controlling for gender and regular strength training, only male sex predicted higher grip strength (p<0.001). Notably, aspiring Santas showed lower grip strength (p=0.021). Conclusion: If you judge by grip strength alone, male staff- regardless of specialty - might lift the sack best. But we know Santa's true power comes not just from muscle, but from a jolly spirit; a caring heart, and a booming "Ho-Ho-Ho."