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Latest Posts

Early Colostomy Reversal: Not A Good Idea

I have already spoken about the hazards of doing favours, but recently I was reminded of another example when I was still a registrar where I only just escaped the proverbial falling anvil.

It was not an unusual case but still fairly challenging for a registrar like myself. The old man presented with an acutely tender abdomen and free air revealed on x-rays. If you ignore the outside horses for a while, this is either a perforated peptic ulcer or complicated diverticulitis (some people would throw complicated appendicitis into the mix, but I’m going to leave it in the stable with the outside horses if there are no objections). The patient needed an operation and soon. So with the sun shining happily over Australia somewhere, I took him to theater. Read more »

*This blog post was originally published at other things amanzi*

How To Care For A Stoma

There is a very nice review article in the “throw away” journal Advances in Skin & Wound Care (full reference below) which discusses the causes and management of peristomal skin complications.  The photo (credit) to the right shows normal, healthy skin around a stoma.

Peristomal complications are one of the most challenging aspects of living with ostomies.  The purpose of this review article was stated to be “to illustrate practical approaches to prevent and treat common peristomal skin conditions.” Read more »

*This blog post was originally published at Suture for a Living*

Latest Interviews

IDEA Labs: Medical Students Take The Lead In Healthcare Innovation

It’s no secret that doctors are disappointed with the way that the U.S. healthcare system is evolving. Most feel helpless about improving their work conditions or solving technical problems in patient care. Fortunately one young medical student was undeterred by the mountain of disappointment carried by his senior clinician mentors…

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How To Be A Successful Patient: Young Doctors Offer Some Advice

I am proud to be a part of the American Resident Project an initiative that promotes the writing of medical students residents and new physicians as they explore ideas for transforming American health care delivery. I recently had the opportunity to interview three of the writing fellows about how to…

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Latest Book Reviews

Book Review: Is Empathy Learned By Faking It Till It’s Real?

I m often asked to do book reviews on my blog and I rarely agree to them. This is because it takes me a long time to read a book and then if I don t enjoy it I figure the author would rather me remain silent than publish my…

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The Spirit Of The Place: Samuel Shem’s New Book May Depress You

When I was in medical school I read Samuel Shem s House Of God as a right of passage. At the time I found it to be a cynical yet eerily accurate portrayal of the underbelly of academic medicine. I gained comfort from its gallows humor and it made me…

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Eat To Save Your Life: Another Half-True Diet Book

I am hesitant to review diet books because they are so often a tangled mess of fact and fiction. Teasing out their truth from falsehood is about as exhausting as delousing a long-haired elementary school student. However after being approached by the authors’ PR agency with the promise of a…

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