It's the new year for us tree-hugging goddess worshipers! So I wish you all a happy Samhain and a wicked Halloween.
But it also means that it is the end of the month and the last day for the DonorsChoose Bloggers Challenge.
While this blog did raise $165 (I'll donate over the weekend to bring us to a round $200...more if the hubby gets that job he interviewed for!) it was from two donors who are BFFs of mine. Thus this was a big FAIL. But don't think that this will be the last time I fundraise here readers! Oh, no...I already have one brewing for December. :D But if you want to leave me a small Samhain gift in the form of $5 for DonorsChoose, I still have thank you gifts available!
I'm attending the Chicago Foundation for Women's luncheon today, so hopefully I'll have some good stories to tell. I'm wishing you lots of your favorite candy today!
Friday, October 31, 2008
Selection of My Twitter Favorites, Edition 9
Twitter is a microblogging service where people answer the question "What are you doing?" via 140-character messages from their cellphone, laptop or desktop. You can select the messages you find useful, amusing, or both. Here is the 9th edition of My Twitter Favorites (the oldest post is at the bottom, the newest at the top):
Micro-blogging on Twitter is easy, fun and can be very useful and educational if you follow/subscribe to interesting people.
You can read more here: A Doctor's Opinion: Why I Started Microblogging on Twitter and
visit my account at Twitter/AllergyNotes.
 | steverubel Steve Pavilina is walking away from $100k/year in Adsense revenue http://tinyurl.com/57osuf | |
 | ruraldoctoring #SHM: I'm so cool--I'm hand-drawing vent flow graphics into PhotoStudio, a simple image-editor I got with my Canon flatbed scanner. | |
 | fredwilson First acupuncture session went well. The e-stim was a bit intense and the needle in my forehead felt funny. I liked it and will keep it up | |
| | ruraldoctoring #SHM: Learning about plateau pressures! I've always wanted to understand plateau pressures! | |
| | ruraldoctoring #SHM: But I have discovered here that many hospitalists do NOT manage ICU patients--enough intensivists to take that out of their hands. | |
| | ruraldoctoring #SHM: Surprised by some of the questions here. I was expecting to be the most ignorant person in the room. | |
| | ruraldoctoring #SHM: Not that ventilator alarms should be a familiar sound, but they are. | |
 | AllergyNotes CPR study on rhythm/song: Reportedly “Another one bites the dust” has the same rhythm as “Staying alive” but conveys the wrong message... ... | |
| | ruraldoctoring #SHM: Not the world's greatest speaker, poor bloke. I know the RT is a good teacher. | |
| | ruraldoctoring Been talking to other hospitalists at this meeting. Note to my group: seeing up to 20 pts a day, including ventilated folks, not the norm. | |
| | fredwilson About to try acupuncture for the first time. Hoping it will be a good compliment to the PT I am doing for my shoulder | |
| | AllergyNotes You have to love the term the Twitter team pioneered for social network buddies -- "followers." It makes you sound almost prophetic. | |
| | AllergyNotes Easy and useful: Twitter can be used to take public notes and have you colleagues and followers comment on them in real time. | |
| | ruraldoctoring #SHM: "We don't think about [encephalitis] often enough." I do! Or at least I think I do. | |
| | ruraldoctoring #SHM: "Delirium: A Stress Test for the Brain." I like it. | |
| | ruraldoctoring #SHM: Ah, the UCSF physician's demeanor. The brisk confidence, the articulate and slightly self-mocking humor. I'd forgotten. | |
| | ruraldoctoring #SHM: Now talking about CA-MRSA pneumonia. Yes I've seen it, even in Rural. | |
 | sandnsurf Twittepathical interjection...we have many strange beasts and venomous creatures down under - but a neurohospitalist - woke me from my sleep | |
 | scanman @ruraldoctoring No such animal in the entire Indian subcontinent. May never have been seen outside the US :) | |
| | ruraldoctoring #SHM: We now move on to talk by "neurohospitalist" S. Andrew Jacobson. No such animal has ever been sighted in Rural. |
| | sandnsurf @AllergyNotes @ruraldoctoring - this is really exciting - I have watched cricket on teletext (UK) but livetweeting is the real deal | |
| | ruraldoctoring @AllergyNotes Yup, tweeting LIVE from the Grand Ballroom of the Fairmont Hotel, San Francisco. | |
| | ruraldoctoring Think I've passed my stress test--no chest pain. Near-syncope a few times, but no chest pain. | |
| | ruraldoctoring Finally arrived at SHM meeting after sweaty sprint up 16% grade San Francisco hills. |
Micro-blogging on Twitter is easy, fun and can be very useful and educational if you follow/subscribe to interesting people.
You can read more here: A Doctor's Opinion: Why I Started Microblogging on Twitter and
visit my account at Twitter/AllergyNotes.
Thursday, October 30, 2008
EVENT:: The Day After - A Feminist Town Forum
Wednesday, November 5 @ 7:00PM EST
PARTICIPATE IN PERSON: CHANGE OF VENUE
LESLEY UNIVERSITY AMPITHEATER, 1815 Mass. Ave in Cambridge
PARTICIPATE ONLINE IN REAL TIME: Participate by logging on 11/5 at 7PM EST to any of our participating blogs, including Feministe, Feministing, Girl with Pen, Viva La Feminista, WIMN's Voices, No Cookies for Me, Writes Like She Talks, Heartfeldt Politics, TakePart, or at our mogulus channel.
¤º°`°º¤o,,,,o¤º°`°º¤o,,,,o¤º°`°º¤o¤º°`°º¤o,,,,o¤º°`°º¤o,,,,o¤º°`°º¤o
OK, so you'll have voted, hopefully you'll have celebrated, and perhaps even be a bit hung over in a week. But I am inviting you to come back here to join a national feminist town forum.
The Center for New Words has been holding forums for the past month or so asking feminists "What do women want?" thru the This Is What Women Want election project and well, women have been speaking up. What better way to close this project than to gather together the night after the election (hopefully with a resolution!) to talk about what we want from our new President AND plan what is next. No matter what happens next week, we will still need to gather and plan how to overturn Hyde, return education to a worthy activity for those on welfare to participate in, to fight for equal pay, and hold the new President accountable to the majority of this country.
This is a first of its kind event convening feminists from around the country live via the blogosphere! Watch live, converse with other audience members around the country.
While you will be able to submit questions on Wednesday night, I am asking you to please, please submit topics here that you want to see covered. What issue, topic, or question do you have that you want the panel to address? Have an idea or strategy? Submit it in the comments of this post! If you can't make it, submit an idea.
Panelists will include:
BYLLYE AVERY
Founder of the National Black Women's Health Project and MacArthur Genius Award Recipient
MICHELLE GOLDBERG
Journalist and author of Kingdom Coming: The Rise of Christian Nationalism
ANNE ELIZABETH MOORE
Critic, activist, artist, journalist and author
PAULA RAYMAN
Founding Director of the Radcliffe Public Policy Center
LORETTA ROSS
National Coordinator, SisterSong Women of Color Reproductive Health Collective
ANDREA BATISTA SCHLESINGER
Executive Director, Drum Major Institute for Public Policy
Come optimistic, disgruntled, angry, or just exhausted. Come in person or online. But come. We need to hear every voice and idea!
(Facebook users: Click here to RSVP and invite your friends!)
Thanks and see you all here on Wednesday!
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TWO MORE DAYS FOR the DonorsChoose Blogger Challenge. Let's get that second classroom project funded! The teacher is requesting funding to buy books by women authors. Also don't forget that I'm giving out goodies to a few select peeps who donate!
Name most famous doctor in history of medicine
Dr Daniel Sokol for BBC:"When I asked my medical students to name famous doctors in the history of medicine, their first answer was Harold Shipman, the GP who murdered hundreds of patients.
I nearly swallowed my tongue.
Their second answer was House, the fictional doctor from the American TV series.
Tears of frustration welled up in my eyes.
Their third answer was Hippocrates, presumed author of the Hippocratic Oath - I breathed a sigh of relief."
References:
A guide to the Hippocratic Oath. Dr Daniel Sokol, BBC.
Image source: Hippocrates of Kos, engraving by Peter Paul Rubens, 1638, courtesy of the National Library of Medicine, public domain.
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
A Write to Marry Day Fairy Tale
Once upon a time there was a little girl who had big dreams. She was going to be an archeologist, a teacher, and maybe one day the President of the United States. She knew she wanted to get out of her small suburban town and see the world. When other girls were playing wedding, she joined in, but deep inside didn't think that she would ever find a boy who would marry her. She did dream about having children one day. A husband was always optional. Fast forward to early adulthood and the little girl did find a boy who said he would marry her and tolerate, some days love, her crazy feminista ways. They married in a tiny chapel in Las Vegas. And they left the hotel-casino to live their Happily Ever After.¤º°`°º¤o,,,,o¤º°`°º¤o,,,,o¤º°`°º¤o¤º°`°º¤o,,,,o¤º°`°º¤o,,,,o¤º°`°º¤o
When I hear people talk about defending the institution of marriage, I wonder if my marriage would really qualify. Yes, as a woman I married a man, but we were not married in a house of worship, even thou the justice of the peace did throw in a lot of "God this and God that." I tried to change up the ceremony so that my dad was not asked "Who gives this woman away" because well, at 18 I left on my own accord, but the JoP still said it. I also thought about having both my parents walk me down the aisle, but was talked out of it. We were introduced as Mr. and Mrs. MYLAST name after we were married, which was a fun surprise for many reasons.
On Tuesday, one of the biggest election days for my generation, Californians will have even more responsibility than usual. The California State Supreme Court has already stated that equal marriage rights are the law of that state. Proposition 8 wants to repeal that and return California to discriminating against same-sex couples.
Why? To protect my marriage? To protect the marriages of Hollywood stars who marry for a few years, get bored, and shack up with their next co-star? As BAC asks, "Hey Newt...Which marriage are you protecting?" This is not about saving us from a crazy judicial system. The same people who want to save us, love that the judicial system gave GWB the election in 2000, and want the judicial system to throw out Roe.
There are times in this country when the judicial system has failed us (Dred Scott) and times when it has pushed us into a new era (Brown v. Board of Education).
Like it or not, this country needed to get its collective butt kicked into this new era of equality and love. Because that's what it is - Equality for all those things us hetero-married folks take for granted and love between two people. How can anyone vote against love? Seriously.California VOTE NO on PROP 8!!
Photo from Ellen & Portia's Wedding Day album
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Don't forget that VLF is participating in the DonorsChoose Blogger Challenge. We already have one class funded, let's get that second one funded! The teacher is requesting funding to buy books by women authors. Also don't forget that I'm giving out goodies to a few select peeps who donate!
Another Milestone: One Million Visitors for Clinical Cases and Images!
One millionClinicalCases.org and CasesBlog have reached the milestone of one million visitors since their launch in 2005 (see the SiteMeter screenshot on the right). We stand at 1,000,437 visits and 2,715,767 page views as of today, and at that rate, the sites will likely surpass 3 million page views within the next 2-3 months.
Clinical Cases and Images (ClinicalCases.org) has become probably the most popular case-based curriculum of clinical medicine on the web and is ranked number one among 24 million pages.
A book from which people read 4,000 pages every day
As I have mentioned before, it feels as if you have written a book and people read 4,000 pages of it... every day. At the recent NEJM Horizons Conference, I was pleasantly surprised that many participants and several NEJM staff member were readers of CasesBlog.
Widely referenced in the press
ClinicalCases.org and CasesBlog were featured and referenced in 12 peer-reviewed medical journals and other scientific publications including, British Medical Journal (3 times), Journal of the American College of Cardiology, Journal of the American Society of Nephrology, Cleveland Clinic Journal of Medicine, Student BMJ, Medical Journal of Australia, Clinical Infectious Diseases, BMC Education, Journal of General Internal Medicine, Journal of Medical Internet Research, Nursing Education Perspectives, Baylor College of Medicine Web Digest and Medscape (2 times). It was also featured by the The Los Angeles Times and Reuters. The project was presented at multiple national and international scientific meetings.
Who was the one-millionth visitor?
The one-millionth visitor came from New Jersey, using Windows XP and Internet Explorer 7, searching for "v.a.c dressing." It helps when Google ranks your website second, after the official website of the manufacturer.
Appreciation for our readers
Just as a short explanation, ClinicalCases.org is a collaborative attempt to build an online case-based curriculum of medicine. CasesBlog is the blog I started in March 2005 (3 years ago) to collect ideas, interesting stories and post relevant news about the Clinical Cases and Images project. A blog can be useful for both personal education (building a portfolio) and education of others.
My colleagues who write for ClinicalCases.org and I would like to express our deep appreciation to our readers. We hope you continue to find the sites interesting, educational and worth-visiting in the future.
Next step: AllergyCases.org
Our latest project is AllergyCases.org, a case-based curriculum of Allergy and Immunology, endorsed by both the American Academy of Allergy Asthma and Immunology (AAAAI) and the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology (ACAAI). We hope to replicate the success and popularity of ClinicalCases.org.
AllergyCases.org is supported by faculty members and fellows at Creighton University and Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center (Shreveport). It receives 400-500 page views daily from the U.S. and abroad.
The educational value of the cases is enhanced by succinct clinical notes, innovative mind maps and mnemonics. The case reports do not follow real cases and are modified in compliance with HIPAA to protect patient confidentiality.
Web 2.0: you can do it too
See how you can use Web 2.0 services for medical education in the presentation below:
References:
Another Milestone: Two Million Page Views for Clinical Cases and Images
Another Milestone: One and a Half Million Page Views for Clinical Cases and Images. CasesBlog, 06/ 2007.
One Million Page Views. CasesBlog, 2006.
Medical Schools Which Link to Our Project Clinical Cases and Images
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Repost:: And what are you for Halloween? A 10-year-old hooker!
I've had a lot of hits of people finding this blog because of this post, so I thought I'd repost it for all my new readers since last Halloween!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Is that what we really want our daughters to be this Halloween?
I have to admit that Halloween is my favorite holiday. What I don't like is that it too has been pornified in recent years and the pornification keeps trickling down to younger and younger kids.
Take this costume for example #1: Major Flirt. You daughter can be sassy, cute, and of course, sexy all at the same time! And please, don't try to tell me that this is the same as a cheerleader costume. The label is FLIRT! Flirts have sexual power. But look through the costume aisle at your local store and you'll see that the costumes are sexed up even for girls. AND also notice the gender line that is clearly drawn. I was in Target last week browsing with my daughter and noticed it oh so well. In the boys aisle you can be a doctor, police officer, and of course your general super heroes and monsters. Girls? Super heroes, check. Monsters, check. Princesses, check. Racist stereotypes*, check. Doctor? Police officer? Construction worker? Not in the house.
And if a pornified Halloween isn't enough for your girl, don't forget to make sure she is silky smooth! Remember Nair ladies? Well they're after our daughters now with a new campaign targeted at 10-15 year olds. Maybe I'm old fashioned and no, it's not just my feminist mama in me, but I didn't get to touch a razor until I was about 12-13. Sure around 10 you start thinking about it, but then every other 10 year old had peach fuzz on our legs. Well, us Latinas had a bit more, but that's another post. There is a whole life of shaving, waxing, and plucking. Why can't we just let our daughters enjoy their few years of not worrying about stubble?
When I rant on about things like this, I also ask you to keep them in context with everything else going on. We have thongs targeted to pre-teens. Thongs were designed for strippers! To get around no nudity laws. We have 8-year-olds hospitalized for eating disorders. All this in a world where rape survivors are still blamed for dressing like sluts. Even 10-year-olds are asking for it.
Yes, dear readers, I'm pissed. Mad as hell and no, I'm not going to take it anymore.
X-posted this at Chicago Moms Blog and Chicago Parent.
* Those are your geisha girl and Indian princess costumes.
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Don't forget that VLF is participating in the DonorsChoose Blogger Challenge. We already have one class funded, let's get that second one funded! The teacher is requesting funding to buy books by women authors. Also don't forget that I'm giving out goodies to a few select peeps who donate!
Technorati tags: Halloween, costumes, girls, Nair, feminism, pornification
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Is that what we really want our daughters to be this Halloween?
I have to admit that Halloween is my favorite holiday. What I don't like is that it too has been pornified in recent years and the pornification keeps trickling down to younger and younger kids.
Take this costume for example #1: Major Flirt. You daughter can be sassy, cute, and of course, sexy all at the same time! And please, don't try to tell me that this is the same as a cheerleader costume. The label is FLIRT! Flirts have sexual power. But look through the costume aisle at your local store and you'll see that the costumes are sexed up even for girls. AND also notice the gender line that is clearly drawn. I was in Target last week browsing with my daughter and noticed it oh so well. In the boys aisle you can be a doctor, police officer, and of course your general super heroes and monsters. Girls? Super heroes, check. Monsters, check. Princesses, check. Racist stereotypes*, check. Doctor? Police officer? Construction worker? Not in the house.
And if a pornified Halloween isn't enough for your girl, don't forget to make sure she is silky smooth! Remember Nair ladies? Well they're after our daughters now with a new campaign targeted at 10-15 year olds. Maybe I'm old fashioned and no, it's not just my feminist mama in me, but I didn't get to touch a razor until I was about 12-13. Sure around 10 you start thinking about it, but then every other 10 year old had peach fuzz on our legs. Well, us Latinas had a bit more, but that's another post. There is a whole life of shaving, waxing, and plucking. Why can't we just let our daughters enjoy their few years of not worrying about stubble?
When I rant on about things like this, I also ask you to keep them in context with everything else going on. We have thongs targeted to pre-teens. Thongs were designed for strippers! To get around no nudity laws. We have 8-year-olds hospitalized for eating disorders. All this in a world where rape survivors are still blamed for dressing like sluts. Even 10-year-olds are asking for it.
Yes, dear readers, I'm pissed. Mad as hell and no, I'm not going to take it anymore.
X-posted this at Chicago Moms Blog and Chicago Parent.
* Those are your geisha girl and Indian princess costumes.
==============
Don't forget that VLF is participating in the DonorsChoose Blogger Challenge. We already have one class funded, let's get that second one funded! The teacher is requesting funding to buy books by women authors. Also don't forget that I'm giving out goodies to a few select peeps who donate!Technorati tags: Halloween, costumes, girls, Nair, feminism, pornification
Study: UpToDate More Likely than PubMed to Answer Patient Care Questions
The authors observed 40 residents and 30 internists in the internal medicine department in an academic medical center in The Netherlands while they searched PubMed and UpToDate.A complete answer was found in 53% questions sent to PubMed or UpToDate. A partial or full answer was obtained in 83% of UpToDate searches and 63% of PubMed searches (p less than 0.001).
UpToDate answered more questions than PubMed on all major medical topics, but a significant difference was detected only when the question was related to etiology or therapy.
Time to answer was 241 seconds for UpToDate and 291 seconds for PubMed.
It looks like UpToDate is gradually becoming "the universal textbook of medicine." Do you remember the last time you opened Harrison's to consult about a clinical topic? Was that in 1997 or 2001?
There is an old proverb: beware the man of a single book (homo unius libri). It describes people with limited knowledge.
I find UpToDate useful and read it all the time. However, there are billions of scientific journal pages on the Web and the answer to your question must be somewhere out there. Do not be a man of only one book.
References:
Answers to questions posed during daily patient care are more likely to be answered by UpToDate than PubMed. Hoogendam A, Stalenhoef AF, Robbé PF, Overbeke AJ. Department of Medicine, Division of General Internal Medicine, Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre, Nijmegen, The Netherlands. J Med Internet Res 2008;10(4):e29.
Link via Ivor Kovic.
Are You Dependent on UpToDate for Your Clinical Practice?
5 Tips to Stay Up-to-Date with Medical Literature
Image source: UpToDate.
Related reading:
UpToDate, Harrison’s Cecil’s and PubMed---what are their respective roles? Notes from Dr. RW.
Small association between use of UpToDate and reduced patient length of stay, lower mortality (study sponsored by UTD) http://goo.gl/zSG8R
95% of junior doctors consider electronic textbooks the most effective source of knowledge. 70% of junior doctors read the medical literature in response to a specific patient encounter. BMJ, 2011. http://goo.gl/QZyJE
Most up-to-date point-of-care medical resource? Sorry, UpToDate, Dynamed is way faster - BMJ http://goo.gl/4GC5l and http://goo.gl/QQcOh
How Current Are Leading Evidence-Based Medical Textbooks? An Analytic Survey of 4 Online Textbooks (including UpToDate) http://buff.ly/X2kUKw
Monday, October 27, 2008
Selection of My Twitter Favorites, Edition 8
Twitter is a microblogging service where people answer the question "What are you doing?" via 140-character messages from their cellphone, laptop or desktop. You can select the messages you find useful, amusing, or both. Here is the 8th edition of My Twitter Favorites (the oldest post is at the bottom, the newest at the top):
Micro-blogging on Twitter is easy, fun and can be very useful and educational if you follow/subscribe to interesting people.
You can read more here: A Doctor's Opinion: Why I Started Microblogging on Twitter and
visit my account at Twitter/AllergyNotes.
 | ||
 | ||
| | atask Wow: Just came across piece from July when RBS strategist Bob Janjuah said the S&P could hit 1050 by Sept., which seemed super-bearish then. |
 | johnbattelle PS - all you parents out there. Do you have dinner each night with kids? We do, but my kids say it's not normal for their friends to do so | |
 | grahamwalker From last night: hematocrit of 12. Impressive, GI bleeder. | |
 | AllergyNotes @scanman Your quote: It's time I started showing signs of life at home. Sitting in front of the laptop IS NOT a sign of life as per the wife | |
 | scanman @AllergyNotes My wife is thrilled that I've such important/influential friends :) She'll be more tolerant of my timewasting on twitter :) | |
| | AllergyNotes Twittering more = Blogging less. That's the reality, whether you accept it or not. | |
| | AllergyNotes "Testophilia" -- a strong affinity for unnecessary medical tests http://tinyurl.com/63zwtl | |
| | grahamwalker To future patients with ACS, CHF, and acute on chronic renal failure, please space yourselves out by an hour. Can't keep you straight. | |
 | ruraldoctoring Good morning. Obviously my idea of waking up EARLY to tackle the library is no-go. | |
 | Stammy one hour left to memorize 14 pages of images and 4 pages of notes | |
| | AllergyNotes Dr. Anonymous says he has a voice (and face) for radio. Check for yourself: http://tinyurl.com/5se98l | |
| | ruraldoctoring Late dinner for me, the direct consequence of a late lunch. |
| | ruraldoctoring Surfing eBay for all kinds of things I don't need. Must stop. | |
| | grahamwalker I love watching Central Park change with the seasons. The colors, the events, the people. | |
 | Berci I asked a patient today: What kind of drugs do you take regularly? Answer: A small red one and a bigger white one.... | |
| | grahamwalker Other EM MDs: you seeing teens coming in w/ a CC of cough, asking for Tussionex, which they then use to get high? Epidemic here in NYC. | |
 | drval I don't want to complain or make them look bad - but seriously, it's so sad. They even asked me to get 3 neg PPDs. It's almost imp. to help | |
| | drval They lost my peer letters 3 times, didn't receive FCVS mail, wouldn't return my calls, were in gridlock between ortho and rehab having me | |
| | drval Trying to volunteer at Walter Reed. Been waiting 8 months for my papers to process... And we wonder why our troops don't always have access? |
Micro-blogging on Twitter is easy, fun and can be very useful and educational if you follow/subscribe to interesting people.
You can read more here: A Doctor's Opinion: Why I Started Microblogging on Twitter and
visit my account at Twitter/AllergyNotes.
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