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Annual Post-Graduate Convention 2011

March 5, 2011 by Leave a Comment

This weekend is the Annual Post-Graduate Convention (APC) here at Loma Linda University. During this weekend, alumni come back to fellowship and, if they want, sit in on lectures that count towards CME credit.

Coincidentally I was out on campus taking pictures around sunset. As I stood there taking one picture I spoke to one of the ladies heading towards the campus church where the evening’s event was taking place.

She told me that her husband graduated from Loma Linda University 50 years ago. I can’t imagine where I’ll be 50 years from now. I hope that I will still be able to trek back and see old (literally) faces.

Here are a few of the pictures I took last night.

Sonkissed

Filed Under: Medical School, My Life Tagged With: , ,
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Is Primary Care Worth it?

February 27, 2011 by 2 Comments

Thanks to twitter, I just heard of The Color of Atmosphere: One Doctor’s Journey In and Out of Medicine, a book by Dr. Maggie Kozel. As a medical student planning on going into primary care, I can’t help but wonder about my decision when hearing things like this. I haven’t read the book yet. I don’t know if I want to. Maybe I have to work up the courage to do so.

One review by another physician author reads:

Dr. Kozel captures perfectly the malaise that has struck American medicine in general and primary care in particular. The chronicle of this intelligent and committed physician—who is frustrated at every turn as she tries to find satisfaction in a profession to which she had expected to dedicate her life—is a powerful indictment of our current system of medical care. We should have done better by her.
—Beach Conger, MD, physician and author, Bag Balm and Duct Tape: Tales of a Vermont Doctor

If you’ve read the book, I’d love to hear your opinions on it.

Filed Under: Medical School, My Life, Other
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Outside Hospital
We’ve all heard about it. We’ve all read about it. Now we really find out what actually goes on at Outside Hospital.

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Well hello there, stranger.

February 14, 2011 by Leave a Comment

Been a while since I have posted much on here. It’s just been really busy lately. I completed the 10 week block of Internal Medicine just over a week ago. Since then I’ve started a 4 week block of Neurology. So far it is a drastic change of pace. I should be posting something here in the next week or so — at least that’s what I am hoping for.

I am also working on replying to some emails. If you have emailed me through the Contact page, I apologize for being slow the reply. I appreciate and welcome all feedback — even the negative ones. Yes, I have had some rather confrontational emails, but oh well. Such is the nature of internet anonymity, right?

Also, if you are a longtime visitor you will notice a bit of a change in the sidebar. I am not sure if it will be there very long or not. I decided to add this site to the Google Friend Connect system. I am still unfamiliar with what it does. I assume it helps you keep up to date with the blogs you follow. At this point I had relied solely on Feedburner to syndicate the blog posts for whoever is interested. But technology marches on — and I guess I will eventually follow.

Other than that, this post is just to update ya’all out there about what’s going on. If you’re interested, I have also started blogging again at The Differential. So stop on over there and say hello too!

Filed Under: Medical School, My Life Tagged With: ,
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Anosognosia & Hemineglect
Reviewing my neurology notes about strokes. This does an excellent job of showing how it affects real patients.

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Medicine & Death

January 31, 2011 by Leave a Comment

I just found this quote by Dr. Atul Gawande and I wanted to share it:

The simple view is that medicine exists to fight death and disease, and that is, of course, its most basic task. Death is the enemy. But the enemy has superior forces. Eventually, it wins. And, in a war that you cannot win, you don’t want a general who fights to the point of total annihilation. You don’t want Custer. You want Robert E. Lee, someone who knew how to fight for territory when he could and how to surrender when he couldn’t, someone who understood that the damage is greatest if all you do is fight to the bitter end.

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Three Weeks

January 26, 2011 by 1 Comment

A 3 week stint at a county hospital isn’t very long. Three weeks, with one day off per week, is 18 days of coming in every day.

But a lot can happen in 18 days. Three weeks is long enough for me to admit a patient, follow the patient for three weeks and watch the patient deteriorate right in front of my eyes.

The patient is not even 30. Young children at home. I doubt the patient will be alive in a week’s time.

Three weeks.

Filed Under: Medical School, My Life Tagged With: ,