Ghosts and Blinds

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In live it’s not just about being right — it’s about knowing how wrong you’re allowed to be.

👻 The Ghost and the Exorcist

(Type I Error — False Positive)

2:14 a.m: The ICU lights hummed softly. The telemetry monitor on Bed 5 showed a strange rhythm — some premature beats, maybe a wide QRS.

Your heart sped up. “This could be VT… or something worse.”

You called cardiology.

Then the senior.

Then the attending.

Like calling an exorcist for a ghost in the monitor.

But the patient?

Sleeping. Peacefully. Stable vitals.

The EKG you ordered (finally)?

Perfectly normal.

It was the student’s fault, of course. (I am the student)


You saw something that wasn’t really there — and treated it like it was.

That’s a Type I Error (α): a false positive.


🔥 The Rhythm We Ignored

(Type II Error — False Negative)

2:14 a. m The next day: The monitor alarm kept beeping — softly at first, then louder. A few wide QRS complexes. A couple of dropped beats.

“It's probably just artifact,” you thought. "I just got embarrased yestarday"

The patient had moved. They were coughing. The nurse had suctioned. It happens.

You silenced the monitor. Twice.

1 hour later: The patient had coded.

***The rhythm: Monomorphic VT, progressing to VF.


You missed it — not because it wasn’t there…but because you told yourself it wasn’t real.

That’s a Type II Error (β): a false negative.


💥Power = 1 – β. High power means fewer blind spots.





In statistics, as in medicine, there are two ways to miss the truth:
 👻You either see what isn’t real,
😝 or you ignore what is.

👀 Shreffler J, Huecker MR. Type I and Type II Errors and Statistical Power. [Updated 2023 Mar 13]. In: StatPearls [Internet]. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing; 2025

PD: Thanks Gemini AI, the picture was amazing.



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