Getting Better: 200 Years of Medicine
This 45-minute documentary explores three remarkable stories of medical progress that have taken place over the course of the long history of NEJM. In 1812, we had no understanding of infectious disease, surgery was unsanitary and performed without anesthesia, and cancer was unrecognized. Two centuries later, this film tells the story of research, clinical practice, and patient care, and of how we have continued to get better over the last 200 years.
Can a Hospital Say, "Only Thin Doctors Can Work Here"?
Interesting ethics article especially in light of news of the “Fat Forecast” that by 2013, 42% of the US population may be obese.
When the Chef is Also a Doctor
What a great marriage between public health and medicine. I wish I would’ve known about the Healthy Kitchens/ Healthy Lives conference. I would’ve loved to attend! Healthy cooking is one of my other hobbies, and I hope to incorporate it into my work as a physician as well.
Are Doctors Happy?
Like medicine, happiness takes practice. But when it comes to happiness, some say the deck is stacked against doctors. Left unchecked, physician unhappiness can lead to major problems, including disruptive behavior, burnout, medical errors, health problems, addiction, depression, and failed relationships. It takes ambition, perfectionism and drive to make it into — and out of — medical school and while those qualities may be very useful for achieving goals, they don’t tend to foster happiness and satisfaction.
Being a doctor also calls for critical thinking and a degree of pessimism, O’Connor says: doctors aren’t trained to look at the sunny side of life. They look for what’s wrong with a patient, not what’s right.
While the people who choose to become doctors may have an abundance of these qualities, “Medical training sharpens them to a needle point,” he says. The result: physicians often graduate from medical school with a degree, a tendency to be brutally hard on themselves, and a profound inability to relax.
So how’s a doctor to find happiness? The same way everyone should, says O’Connor: work on it. Find a way to be happy in the now.
I’m still working on ways to relax. It’s odd that even in this very relaxed fourth year of medical school, I find ways to fill all my time. I have become very used to being busy and utilizing my time efficiently, that it’s often difficult to just do nothing.
I certainly hope that I will be happy at work and outside of work.
On Match Week 2012
To say that this whole thing started just a few months ago with the start of my ERAS application, interviewing, rank lists and whatnot, would be severely short-sighted of me. For me and for most people, this whole thing began as a child, having some idea of what I wanted to be when I grew up. Match week is a culmination of innocent childhood dreams, struggles and let-downs along the way as “non-traditional” students, late nights of studying, long zombie-like mornings after a rough 24-hour surgery call, and post-exam/end of rotation celebrations with amazing friends. For me, it was week where I spontaneously cried tears of complete happiness, relief and gratitude.
My path to medicine has been a long, winding road with rough terrain, detours and it seems that at times, my GPS was busted. From humble beginnings as a child surgeon, medicine meant saving lives by repairing detached limbs and performing (Sharpie marker) “cataract” surgery on Monkey-Key, my most beloved stuffed animal (made of love just like the Velveteen Rabbit). My first grade autobiography clearly predicts that not only would I become a doctor, but I would also find the cure to AIDS and subsequently become BFFs with Magic Johnson, drive a red Mazda Miata and only wear red dresses under my white coat. In fact, this highly predictive autobiography states that I was triple-boarded in pediatrics, neurosurgery and cardiology, while also being the premier hairstylist to the stars. No joke, I was living the dream.
Both fortunately and unfortunately, it wasn’t as easy as my 6 year-old mind imagined. In high school I started working in hospice care, providing comfort and happiness at the end of life. It gave me a completely different perspective on medicine and what saving lives really means. In college and graduate school, I worked part-time as an emergency room technician in Chicago. At first, it was exciting to be in the footsteps of Noah Wyle and George Clooney, but I also learned that medicine can be quick, dirty and often, devastating. I found myself questioning whether this was the right path for me and at that time, it surely wasn’t. After completing a master’s degree in public health, I set off on a journey to improve people’s lives through health education on prevention. Yet, I still felt this strong desire, perhaps calling, that I could make a greater impact with a combined background in medicine.
In hindsight, medical school itself seems to have flown by. Going through the first two years was not without pain and suffering (and seriously, it was emotionally and physically draining at times), yet looking back it wasn’t as bad as it seems. I can say that now since the end is within reach! To say that living on an island thousands of miles from my family and close friends in the most stressful time of my life was rough, cannot even begin to encapsulate this experience as a whole. But throughout the rough patches, I found friends that became surrogate family, whether it was celebrating Thanksgiving dinner, caring for my frequently injured friends, or cutting up oranges as a basketball mom. I found extraordinary future physicians along the way and developed friendships for a lifetime. Without St. George’s University, perhaps our paths would not have crossed and for this, I am ever grateful.
I am thankful for having such a supportive and incredibly patient family that were and are always there for me, even when I was stressed out of my mind and clearly, a huge pain in the ass. My family kept me going with their relentless support, as my mother’s words to “keep going” seemed to play on repeat in my head. They never gave up on me and never let me give up on myself. A worn-out birthday card from my grandfather, continued to remind me of family who have passed before me whose dreams I also carried with me.
It is a strange feeling to think that in just a few months, I will be a doctor. I am thrilled to have matched into a wonderful program where I know I will be happy. While I may not become a pediatrician-neurosurgeon-cardiologist-hairstylist, I know that I am steps closer to fulfilling my childhood dreams. And who knows, Magic Johnson and I may still become BFFs someday!
Feb. 22/29 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association showed that women have higher mortality in MI and no chest pain.
- Women more often have no chest pain with a myocardial infarction and have a greater risk of dying in hospital than men do.
- Almost 40% more women had no chest pain at diagnosis, and they had a 42% higher inhospital mortality.
- The youngest women with MI were most likely to have no chest pain and also had the highest mortality.
- Note that the disparities between men and women existed in all age groups, but the magnitude of the differences diminished with increasing age, with the youngest women with MI most likely to have no chest pain and also the highest mortality.
I did a presentation on the new AHA evidence-based guidelines for cardiovascular disease prevention in women in December. It is definitely worth a read to help guide your patients.
From another friend. I am excited to be finally finished this year, especially since I just certified my rank list and now have to wait impatiently for my life (for the next 3 years) to be decided for me. But man, that pic really reminds of long nights of studying of the past, present and future.
Got this from a friend. Actually very true especially the unnecessary highlighting by medical students!
Thank goodness for electronic medical records.
How (Not) to Communicate New Scientific Information: a Memoir of the Famous Brindley Lecture
“In 1983, at the Urodynamics Society meeting in Las Vegas, Professor G.S. Brindley first announced to the world his experiments on self-injection with papaverine to induce a penile erection. This was the first time that an effective medical therapy for erectile dysfunction (ED) was described, and was a historic development in the management of ED. The way in which this information was first reported was completely unique and memorable, and provides an interesting context for the development of therapies for ED.”
Interesting memoir on Dr. Brindley’s lecture sent to me by my brother. I’m surprised I’d never heard of this before since it’s pretty hilarious.
Don't Quit This Day Job
Interesting opinion article on female physicians going part time and how it affects patients and the public.
“About 30 percent of doctors in the United States are female, and women received 48 percent of the medical degrees awarded in 2010. But their productivity doesn’t match that of men. In a 2006 survey by the American Medical Association and the Association of American Medical Colleges, even full-time female doctors reported working on average 4.5 fewer hours each week and seeing fewer patients than their male colleagues. The American Academy of Pediatrics estimates that 71 percent of female pediatricians take extended leave at some point — five times higher than the percentage for male pediatricians.”
What do you think about this?
"Take the world apart and figure out how it works." - Built to Spill, 1994.
