February 21st, 2010 by Edwin Leap, M.D. in Better Health Network, Opinion
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Paging Dr. Mortis, Dr. Rigor Mortis!
This is a sample section from a new book I’m writing on the transition from residency to practice.
When you die:
A) The house of medicine will collapse, and only recover by remembering your compassion and sacrifice.
B) Patients and staff will wail in sack-cloth and ashes
C) Someone may name a procedure or drug in your honor
D) People will walk over your dead body, take your vacant day-shifts and go through your pockets for change.
The answer is D. Although I’m using some hyperbole, the point is that when you die, some people will be sad; your loved ones will miss you. But life will go on. The hospital will not close, and the sick will not stop being sick. So conduct your life with this in mind. Medicine, for all it’s wonder and value, must not be a rock on which you wreck yourself. Let it enhance, not overwhelm, your life. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at edwinleap.com*
February 21st, 2010 by Happy Hospitalist in Better Health Network, Humor, True Stories
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It’s 2:00 am in the emergency room. That’s when the real doctor humor stories comes out to play. By now I’ve sent two patients home from the ER, one of which I spent 90 minutes discussing why chronic abdominal pain management needed to involve an outpatient supratentorial component and why coming into the hospital would be a highly disappointing experience. By now I’ve also admitted two patients to observation status, one of which is a guy with uncontrolled diabetes who remembered me from a year prior and thanked me for telling him nobody else was going to live his life for him and he needed to take responsibility for his poor actions in life. By now I’ve also brought two patients in for full hospital admission, one of which was placed immediately on end of life cares for end stage COPD, the other of which who’s son got the wrath of my smoking lecture.
Once the work was done, the doctor humor came out to play. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Happy Hospitalist*
February 20th, 2010 by KevinMD in Better Health Network, Opinion
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Most medical schools do a reasonably good job clinically preparing medical students to be future physicians.
But they can do better, especially in our fragmented health system where millions of Americans have to contend with costs as much as they have to with their medical conditions.
In her recent New York Times column, Pauline Chen cites a study showing that students exposed to more non-clinical topics, like medical economics, health policy, and the “business” of medicine, were more satisfied with their education. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at KevinMD.com*
February 20th, 2010 by Paul Auerbach, M.D. in Better Health Network, Health Tips
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Dog attacks are a major public health concern worldwide. In the United States, dogs bite more than 4 million people each year, occasionally resulting in fatalities. In an issue of Wilderness and Environmental Medicine (2009;20:19-25), Ricky Langley from the Division of Public Health in Raleigh, North Carolina published an article entitled, “Human Fatalities Resulting From Dog Attacks in the United States, 1979-2005.”
The statistics are instructive. In the years studied, there was an average of 19 deaths each year from dog attacks. Not surprisingly, males and children less than 10 years of age had the highest rate of death from dog attacks, with Alaska reporting the highest death rate. The number of deaths and death rate from dog attacks appear to be on the rise, perhaps for no other reason than there are more people and more dogs, in both absolute numbers and in proximity.
I am a dog lover (of friendly dogs), but am aware both as an owner and as an emergency physician that dogs will sometimes bite people, sometimes with serious consequences. Read more »
This post, Killer Dogs And US Dog Bite Statistics, was originally published on
Healthine.com by Paul Auerbach, M.D..
February 19th, 2010 by Bongi in Better Health Network, Humor, True Stories
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We can sometimes look good in our jobs. I suppose it comes with the territory. But sometimes this is not a good thing.
Danville is an interesting place. Actually the place itself is drab but it is full of interesting people. To say it is populated by the lower echelons of the gene pool is an understatement of note. For some reason every reprobate and inbreed seems to have found their way there. Throw a few generations of fetal alcohol syndrome into the mix and you have the average Danville resident. Then add a strong predilection to grandpa (a local aspirin caffeine headache powder) to round off with. Usually when they presented to the hospital it is with a bleeding peptic ulcer or a perforated peptic ulcer. In fact they seldom present to us with anything else. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at other things amanzi*
