“Look at every path closely and deliberately, then ask ourselves this crucial question: Does this path have a heart? If it does, then the path is good. If it doesn't, it is of no use.” ~Carlos Castaneda

Sunday, August 26, 2007

I think we may have interviewed this guy ....

I was catching up on my blog reading and ran across this on Scalpel or Sword. please don't try this at home.


Let's play the odds ....

“In all things it is better to hope than to despair”
~Johann Wolfgang von Goethe



The residency application year is about to begin and the same questions are being asked. "What do I need to score to get into an orthopaedic residency?" "Do I need research?" "How competitive am I?" I think these are the questions that we all had or have when applying to residency. I know I did. It seems like everyone wants the formula. If you have X honors with Z USMLE step 1 and Y letters of recommendation, you will be guaranteed a residency spot somewhere. I wish it were that simple.

I happened upon the statistics from last years match when looking through SDN. It was distributed by a young radiology resident trying to prove that they are as competitive as the big boys. I think he failed to actually look at the statistics and concentrated on the fact that the average USMLE step 1 & 2 score was 1 point higher than the average orthopaedic board score. But, that in itself does not make you competitive and I don't think that the 1 point difference reaches statistical significance. The competitive residencies have more applicants than spots, supply and demand. That is what makes them more competitive. So, he was a little misguided. I will give him the props that it is more competitive than I originally thought.

I think some of the interesting statistics from this report are that they looked at the the probability of matching based on USMLE score, number of programs ranked, and research and publications. They split things up based on U.S. Seniors in "other specialties" and in "Highly Competitive Specialties", and Independent Applicants in "Other Specialties" and Independent Applicants in "Highly Competitive Specialties" The highly competitive specialties are defined as specialties where the ratio of the number of U.S. seniors who ranked the specialty first to the number of available positions was 1 to 1 or greater. These specialties include: Dermatology, Orthopaedic Surgery, Otolaryngology, Plastic Surgery, and Radiation Oncology. This is an interesting document. It is all about statistics.

For those who want to know how competitive they are and want the actual numbers, this is the document you want. Good luck to you all.

“Doubt can only be removed by action.”
~Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Friday, August 24, 2007

Liberty or ....

“Politics is a pendulum whose swings between anarchy and
tyranny are fueled by perpetually rejuvenated illusions.”
~Albert Einstein

I love this country. The founding principles are its heart, take them away and it dies. "Give me liberty or give me death," is one of the most famous quotes in our rebellion against the British. In this speech Patrick Henry's made to the Virginia House of Burgesses, he makes this statement:

... it is natural to man to indulge in the illusions of hope. We are apt to shut our eyes against a painful truth, and listen to the song of that siren till she transforms us into beasts. Is this the part of wise men, engaged in a great and arduous struggle for liberty? Are we disposed to be of the numbers of those who, having eyes, see not, and, having ears, hear not, the things which so nearly concern their temporal salvation? For my part, whatever anguish of spirit it may cost, I am willing to know the whole truth, to know the worst, and to provide for it. ...

We fought for the ability to speak freely. It is the first amendment in the bill of rights. As citizens of the United States, that is our birthright.

I have posted on a number of other blogs and forums pleading with residents and medical students to believe in the "system." I made the statement that the system has been put in place for a reason. I have pleaded with them to let the system work. Unfortunately, my blinders have been removed. I have made the realization that everything is political. The politics of a large medical center are sometimes overbearing. I have never played the political game very well. This is probably because I have a hard time being phony for the purpose of politics.

On a number of other blogs, there have been long discussions about the fear of retaliation from staff if a medical student or resident speaks their mind or states that there is a problem. I have seen a number of forum discussions on people feeling that the have never had their do process. My reaction to these complaints is that there is a system in place and you need to use it. It will all work out. The responses of medical students and residents is that there is no support. Students and resident have complained about having their lives monitored and somewhat controlled by the "system," medical school or residency. They complain that the new medium that they have been brought up on (myspace, facebook, blogs) is being used to monitor them and control their behavior. On forums such as SDN, there have been discussions of how their anonymous opinions about situations with a professor or their institution have been monitored and people have been disciplined for these honest opinions. Does this encroach on their rite of free speech?

This topic has been extended to medical blogging as well. The questions of whether or not medical blogging is ethical. With the increasing scrutiny of the 1000 or so medical blogs, there has been the development of a Health Care Blogger Code of Ethics. With cases like that against the fallen medical blogger Flea, people have become more and more concerned. Dr. K, who writes a blog titled That Mirror Belongs to Frank, changed her blog and deleted previous posts because she is going up for tenure and had a fear that the blog may be found and use against her in her quest for tenure. There has been a recent article addressing the issue of medical blogging on MDNG titled Medical Ethics and Blogging: Think Before you post. Is there a different standard?

In medicine, should we not express our feelings openly? Our we so immune to human condition that we can not express our emotion without fear repercussion? Should we fear openly expressing a opposing opinion? These our questions that I thought I knew the answers to, but know I question those answers. I am reevaluating my view of the system. I am reassessing my place in this world. Can I play the game?

One thinks that if you are in a university or college, true free thought would be encouraged. Opposing opinions would be encouraged. Our job is to encourage and stimulate young fertile minds. We are here to help in the advancement of medical education as well as medical knowledge. When is it that we teach how to navigate through the political cesspool known as the Medical Community? Are those in positions of power the best for the position or the best positioned?

Will I play the game well? Probably not, because as you know the color of my brain is red. I will continue to fight the good fight. We are in a free country and should encourage differences of opinion. We should encourage the dialog. I would hope things would be done directly instead of behind closed doors. We should not let the fear of something happening prevent us from acting. The fear of a new medium is what we are seeing now. It is a new fronter of communication. As with most things in our country, we react to the fear of the unknown by trying to control it. So when all is said and done, will it be liberty or death?
A Dream Within A Dream

Take this kiss upon the brow!
And, in parting from you now,
Thus much let me avow--
You are not wrong, who deem
That my days have been a dream;
Yet if hope has flown away
In a night, or in a day,
In a vision, or in none,
Is it therefore the less gone?
All that we see or seem
Is but a dream within a dream.

I stand amid the roar
Of a surf-tormented shore,
And I hold within my hand
Grains of the golden sand--
How few! yet how they creep
Through my fingers to the deep,
While I weep--while I weep!
O God! can I not grasp
Them with a tighter clasp?
O God! can I not save
One from the pitiless wave?
Is all that we see or seem
But a dream within a dream?

~Edgar Allan Poe

“The secret of happiness is freedom.
The secret of freedom is courage.”
~Thucydides

Clearing head ....

“Life is full of beauty. Notice it. Notice the bumble bee, the small child, and the smiling faces. Smell the rain, and feel the wind. Live your life to the fullest potential, and fight for your dreams.”
~Ashley Smith



For those who frequent my blog, you know that I run. It is my time. It is when I do most of my thinking. No kids to bother me; no wife to nag; no residents to teach. It is me, the road, and my Ipod. Over the past months, I have been plagued with injuries and have not been able to devote much time to running. This last month I have been able to increase my mileage without incurring any injuries. Today, I had one of my better mid distance runs. It was phenomenal. Why, you may ask? There is a point you reach while running when it becomes like a trance. The head clears. The legs move effortlessly. This is when I have my best thoughts and ideas. Today was one of those days.

REFLECTION
I have come curiously close to the end, down
Beneath my self-indulgent pitiful hole, defeated I
Concede and (Concede and) move closer (Move closer),
I may find comfort here
I may find peace within the emptiness, how pitiful

It's calling me (Calling me)
It's calling me (Calling me)
It's calling me (Calling me)
It's calling me

And in my darkest moment, fetal and weepin'
The moon tells me a secret, my confidant
As full and bright as I am, this light is not my own and
A million light reflections pass over me

It's source is bright and endless, she resuscitates the hopeless
Without her we are lifeless satellites dreamin' dreams
And as I pull my head out, I am without one doubt,
don't want to be down here soothing my narcissism, I
Must crucify the ego before it's far too late,
I pray the light lifts me out

Before I pine away
Before I pine away (Pine away)
Before I pine away (Pine away)
Before I pine away (Pine away)

So crucify the ego before it's far too late to leave behind this place,
so negative and blind and cynical
And you will come to find that we are all one mind,
capable of all that's imagined and all conceivable
Just let the light touch you and let the words spill through,
just let them pass right through, bringin' out our hope and reason

Before we pine away (Pine away)
Before we pine away (Pine away)
Before we pine away (Pine away)
Before we pine away
Over my last 2 of 7 miles, I listened to a great Tool song off of Lateralis called Reflection. For those who are unfamiliar with Tool, there is much more to the music than meets the ear. It is poetry. It is a mathematical problem being solved; it is geometric. This is a wonderfully long song and perfect for running. The instrumental potion is increasingly intense with the ebb and flow of drums, base and guitar. The voice of Maynard placed slowly into the mix. It gets increasingly emotional. The emotion rising and falling like increasingly excited breath. It climaxes at the end with all of the instruments and vocals coming together to complete the emotional experience.

How does this relate to anything? This was like a reset for me. It helped me to recenter. I think we all need a reset button. We all need something that reminds us why we are here, to redirect a lost focus. Every morning I run. In the rain or snow, hot or cold, I put my shoes on and run. Why, because it centers me. It helps me to balance the trials of the days. It is my time. The practice of medicine can wear any of us down. We all need something to rejuvenate us. I have been rejuvenated. I plead to you to find what will center you, rejuvenate you. Don’t let medicine consume you.

“Dream as if you'll live forever, live as if you'll die today.”
~James Dean

Thursday, August 23, 2007

How's my life going?

I took the life test. It said I was doing FFT.

    78.2/100Rate My LifeRateMyLife.net - Find out if you suck at life

Wednesday, August 22, 2007

A note for my site monitors

“Prejudice is a great time saver. You can form
opinions without having to get the facts.”

~E. B. White

Image location

To my new site monitors, welcome. I thank you for your numerous visits. You are making my page view statistics look phenomenal. I would like to ask for a favor, nothing outrageous. I ask for fairness when reporting on my little blog. Please report on the facts and not on hearsay.

I will make this statement without hesitation. "I have never placed patient pictures or information on my blog. I have never placed OR pictures on my blog." These are facts. I would swear to that in a court of law without hesitation. You can look through my archives as much as you want, but you will never find them because they were never there.

I just ask that the facts be reported.

Thank you,

Someonetc

“What we seek we shall find;
what we flee from flees from us.”

~Ralph Waldo Emerson

Monday, August 20, 2007

My brain color ...

Everyone else is doing it. I have seen this on a number of other blogs. So, her it is on mine. This is my brain color.

Your Brain is Red

Of all the brain types, yours is the most impulsive.
If you think it, you do it. And you can get the bug to pursue almost any passion.
Your thoughts are big and bold. Your mind has no inhibitions.

You tend to spend a lot of time thinking about love, your dreams, and distant places.

Saturday, August 18, 2007

Is Andy Rooney out of touch ...

“Wisdom ceases to be wisdom when it becomes too proud to weep,
too grave to laugh, and too selfish to seek other than itself.”
~Kahlil Gibran

Cell phones
Computers
IPODS
Video Games
Internet
Email
Blogs
Podcasts ...
These are things that are here that were not present at the beginning of the 20th century. This is the technology of the 21st century. These have become a part of the everyday life in todays America. Most of our college students today could not remember a time without them.
Telephone
News paper
Radio
Milk man
Great Depression
Prohibition ...
These are popular things from the time of Andy Rooney's birth. These are things from a distant past. This list resembles what may be found in a time capsule retrieved by the residents of a small town.

I watch 60 minutes every once and a while. It makes me feel really old because I always thought it was a show for "old" people. At the end of every show, Andy Rooney gives an editorial statement on some random topic. It usually starts out with some sort of list. He will go on about how he doesn't understand why people do this or that now a days. Most of his comments seem very out of date. His comments seem old and unadapted to the world today. So, is Andy Rooney out of touch with what is current? Are his ways of looking at the world dated?

Well, Andy Rooney was born 1/14/19 and is of the G.I. generation, just before the silent generation. Many of the elders of this generation and the silent generation are now retired from their orthopaedic practices. These are the elders. Many still attend annual meetings and are advisors, consultants, and emeritus professors. Are they like Andy Rooney and out of touch and out of date? Do they still believe that the arthroscope is the tool of the devil?

I refer to these people of these past generations (G.I., silent, and baby boomer) as elders because they are. In our society today unlike in the past, many of the older generations have been looked at as old, out of date, and not providing any useful input into such a technologically driven world. I would like to make it clear that in the medical community, the wisdom provided by the years of experience of the elders sometimes far out ways the technologically savvy "whipper snapper." The elders help to bring some clarity.

In orthopaedics, most of the "new techniques" have been tried in the past. Many young orthopaedic surgeons have discovered "new techniques" to realizes the they are more like Christopher Columbus than Thomas Edison. The elders bring the experience of the past and the wisdom from those previous failure. It was usually the failures that prevented any further advancement of a technique. When rediscovered by the younger generation, with fresh eyes they were willing to experiment with newer or lost techniques. It is important that these ideas are tempered by the elders. There needs to be a reminder of previous errors so that we do not repeat them.

Is the older generation out of touch and out of date? They probably are, but they provide wisdom. Many of the elders have great stories of the past. Stories of how things were when they were young; when they were "whipper snappers." These stories are past from generation to generation. It helps to keep us from repeating the past failures. The elders should be revered as in tribal society. We should listen and respect them. So, they don't know how to use this thing we call the internet. In their mind, the mouse is a rodent and the blackberry a fruit. Many elders have forgotten more than most residents and young surgeons know. The elders have put in their time. They have made their mark. Today, all they ask is that you listen.

Lost

Stand still. The trees ahead and the bushes beside you
Are not lost. Wherever you are is called Here,
And you must treat it as a powerful stranger,
Must ask permission to know it and be known.
The forest breathes. Listen. It answers,
I have made this place around you.
If you leave it, you may come back again, saying
Here.

No two trees are the same to Raven.
No two branches the same to Wren.
If what a tree or a branch does is lost on you,
You are surely lost. Stand still. The forest knows
Where you are. You must let it find you.

~ by David Whyte
“I know what I have given you.
I do not know what you have received”

~Antonio Porchia

Wednesday, August 15, 2007

Some interesting posts

I was reading through a few blogs this morning and came across these 2 interesting post and I thought they were worth sharing.

Why is a physician worth so much? Is it because we trained for so long and hard? Miamimed makes a great argument why that is not really the reason in his post There is no Direct Correlation Between Devoted Effort and Final Value.

In another post from the southern hemisphere, the land of Bongi and good rugby, there is a nice post by Karen Little on her site Just up the Dose. She addresses The Great Unknown. It is an honest look at medical knowledge. She quotes a book called The Dressing Station by Jonathan Kaplan.
All doctors have their ghosts...
For all of us - even the most dedicated and skilled - the dead pile up, the results of clinical decisions swayed by fatigue or hubris or blind bad luck.

One of my mantras is "I only know what I know." The other is "I have never seen that, but it may have seen me." I think these statements dove tail with her post. We will never know everything. Just do the your best with the knowledge you have and remember everyday is a school day.

And just a little something for the ruby fans our there. You know those from the southern hemisphere and UK.

THE HAKA


Tuesday, August 14, 2007

Inflated sense of self

“The problem with people is that they're only human.”
~Bill Watterson

Over the years, I have learned from many people including my parents, friends, educators, and peers. I have developed my own habits, both good and bad. Something that I have always prided myself on is staying true to who I am. I am an inner city kid. I am blue collar. I work hard, and have a strong work ethic. But, I am human and therefore flawed. I am not afraid to admit when I am wrong, because all I am a human being with an advanced degree.

Since the as far back as you can go, the medical field has been held to a different standard. A standard we have probably placed on ourselves. Some of the idealistic and altruistic ideas that have been listed on many medical school applications fade the further we progress in out education. We become engrossed in our field. We become absorbed by the profession. We lose our sense of being human and become physicians. We become pumped up by the notion that as a physician we become some how all knowing. We all know the term "God Complex."

Physicians are narcissist. I am sure most nurses would agree. Okay, not all physicians are this way, but many show the traits. I ran across this on the Texas Medical Association site. It was titled Personality Traits and Disorders Common to Physicians. The common personality disorders seen in physicians are:
  • Narcissistic
  • Obsessive-Compulsive
  • Antisocial
It is interesting that these are the personality disorders that are most common. Now, We don't all have personality disorders, but the traits are definitely there.

Narcissistic Personality Disorder

  • Has grandiose sense of self-importance
  • Is preoccupied with fantasies of success, power, brilliance
  • Believes self to be “special”
  • Requires excessive admiration
  • Has a sense of entitlement
  • Is interpersonally exploitative
  • Lacks empathy
  • Shows arrogant, haughty behaviors
Wow, these are definitely traits of some people I know. Of course, I have none of these traits (rolling eyes). The surgical fields are kind of self selecting. Who wants a surgeon who is no confidant? These character traits are hard to prevent. In surgery, you affect people's lives. You make a difference. Some many say you play god, but you are not god.

How do you prevent yourself from being one of "those" surgeons? Some who have followed my posts may say, "Well from your radiology posts and that oddly titled 'not everyone will like you post' you obviously have issues." Fortunately, those are not true reflections of my nature. I am generally a well tempered and humble individual; it is from that voice I will speak. The easiest way to do it is remember you are human. There is nothing that is below you. You bleed the same as the maid, the scrub tech, and the CEO. We work with and treat people, not titles. The ultimate goal in medicine is for good patient care, not to make me look good.

For those who are just beginning on your journey, I challenge you to be a human being first. Remember you can not know and do everything; you may need the help of others. Being in medicine is by its nature altruistic; keep at bay the narcissistic tendencies. In the end, stay true to who you are.

“Be yourself; everyone else is already taken.”
~Oscar Wilde

I call a truce ....

“We are all faced with a series of great opportunities
brilliantly disguised as impossible situations.”
~Charles R. Swindoll

I, Someonetc, call for a truce.

From this day forth, I will not make reference radiology in a bad way. I promise to keep my ranting about other services to myself and my wife (couples rule)
. I will not hold ill feelings towards my radiology colleagues and I will strive for a better working relationship between our services.

No words need to be said. On my end, this is done. I have wiped my radiology slate clean and will start from scratch.

“Life's up and downs provide windows of opportunity to determine your values and goals - Think of using all obstacles as stepping stones to build the life you want”
~Marsha Sinetar

Monday, August 13, 2007

I guess surgical training is smililar all over the world ...

“Cruelty is fed, not weakened, by tears”
~Publilius Syrus

Bongi stopped by my site, so I thought I would check out his site (thanks for stopping by). It rocks (probably be cause we use the same blue theme). I ran across an interesting post called Tears. It reminds me of old school surgical training. I feel that this style of training or belittling has no role in medical training today. Just my opinion.

“Cruelty is, perhaps, the worst kid of sin. Intellectual cruelty is certainly the worst kind of cruelty.”
~G. K. Chesterton

Is it a societal failure or a system failure ...


“Being ignorant is not so much a shame, as being unwilling to learn.”
~Benjamin Franklin

This was an interesting article. Do we live in a society with the World's Best Medical Care or are falling behind the rest of the world?


II
Eyes I dare not meet in dreams

In death's dream kingdom
These do not appear:

There, the eyes are

Sunlight on a broken column

There, is a tree swinging

And voices are

In the wind's singing

More distant and more solemn
Than a fading star.


Let me be no nearer
In death's dream kingdom

Let me also wear
Such deliberate disguises
Rat's coat, crowskin, crossed staves

In a field

Behaving as the wind behaves

No nearer --

Not that final meeting
In the twilight kingdom

~The Hollow Men by T.S. Elliot (1925)

Saturday, August 11, 2007

I love Tool ....

“Nothing in this world is a gift. Whatever must be learned
must be learned the hard way.”

~Carlos Castaneda





The Pot

Who are you to wave your finger?
You must have been out your head
Eyehole deep in muddy waters
You practically raised the dead

Rob the grave to snow the cradle
Then burn the evidence down
Soapbox house of cards and glass so
Don't go tossin' your stones around

You must have been high

Foot in mouth and head up ass, so whatcha talkin' 'bout?
Difficult to dance 'round this one
'til you pull it out. boy,

You must have been so high

Steal or borrow, reaper, savior, shady inference
Kangaroo done hung the jury with the innocent

Now you're weeping shades of chosen indigo
(Musta) got lemon juice up in your eye
When you p1ss*d all over my black kettle.

You must have been high!

Who are you to wave your finger?
So full of it
Eye balls deep in muddy waters
F**kin' hypocrite

Liar, lawyer, mirror, show me. What's the difference?
Kangaroo done hung the guilty with the innocent.

Now you're weeping shades of chosen indigo
(Musta) got lemon juice up in your eye
When you pissed all over my black kettle.

You must've been...

So who are you to wave your finger?
Who are you to wave your fatty fingers at me?
You must have been out your mind

Weepin' shades of indigo
Shed without a reason *
Weepin' shades of indigo

Liar, lawyer - mirror, for you what's the difference?
Kangaroo be stoned. He's guilty as the government.

Now you're weeping shades of chosen indigo
(Musta) got lemon juice up in your eye, eye
Now when you p1ss*d all over my black kettle.

You must've been high!

Eyeballs deep in muddy waters
Your balls deep in muddy waters
G@nj@ police,
You must have been out your mind


Just a random post. Giving a shout out to all my Tool fans out there.

“Only as a warrior can one withstand the path of knowledge. A warrior cannot complain or regret anything. His life is an endless challenge, and challenges cannot possibly be good or bad. Challenges are simply challenges.”
~Carlos Castaneda

Tuesday, August 7, 2007

Another post on how hard it is to match into orthopaedics ...

“What is not started today is never finished tomorrow.”
~Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

One of the most common questions from medical students is "what do I need to do to get into orthopaedics?" I listed several things I feel are important at the infancy of this blog in a post called "Do I have a chance getting into an orthopaedic residency?" I don't think that there was anything earth shattering in this post. It basically said you need to get good grade, score well on your USMLE exams, do some research (if you can), and get good recommendations. Like I said, nothing earth shattering. I think what people want is the secret formula. Folks, there is no magic formula, no special sauce, no secret hand shake. There is nothing that guarantees you will match. There are things that will increase your odds, but no guarantees. So, why am I posting? Today on SDN someone asked people to ranking of all medical specialties. A response referred to data sheet that I thought would be helpful. The first was from WUSTL. I thought this had a lot of good information and it may be helpful. The second was the match outcomes from the NRMP 2005. I have been looking for the 2006-2007 data, but this will do for now. So for those who are interested in numbers and odds, here they are.

“Do not spoil what you have by desiring what you have not;
remember that what you now have was once among
the things you only hoped for.”

~Epicurus

Monday, August 6, 2007

It is an emotional issue ...

“Feelings are not supposed to be logical. Dangerous is the man
who has rationalized his emotions.”
~David Borenstein

Every few months, the residents change services. Regardless of the sub-specialty or residency program, it is required that they get exposure to the different sub-specialty areas and/or patient types in order to have "general" understanding of their specialty of choice. My specialty is orthopaedics. To comply with the requirements of the RRC, residents must rotate on different services and/or physicians. It is this change of service that confuses many of the younger residents and even the more experienced resident. You may say, "Why?" Evey time the residents encounter a new physician, they must learn a whole new set of quirks. It is because we all have our own "Emotional Issues."

Now, my definition of Emotional Issue has nothing to do with the DSM-IV (or V or whatever number they are on now) diagnostic criteria. My definition pertains to a particular thing that you do that has no proven scientific benefit; but by doing it, it provides you a sense that everything will be better if it is done. Now, I am not talking about OCD. I am speaking of the little things that people do because of anecdotal experience but have no literature support.

Here are some examples:
  • When I would press fit an acetabular component under reamed by 1 or 2, I would put in at least one screw. My rep said I didn't need it, but it made me sleep better. So, we termed it the "sleep better screw." (for all of you with dirty minds, that would be an orthopaedic device)
  • When I use allograft bone, I put gentamicin in it. Why? I have no studies to support it, but it causes no harm and it makes me feel better.
  • How about antibiotics in irrigation? I am sure we can find articles for both sides.
  • Webril under the tourniquet or not?
  • To ioban or not?
  • Pre clean with alcohol or preop hibiclens shower?
I am sure there are a thousand more that we can list. These are what I term Emotional Issues (EI). Things we do because maybe we had a "bad experience" when we didn't do it or because it helps us sleep better. Every surgeon has them. Sometimes it is seems like OCD. This is what causes residents such anguish when they switch services. What they may do for one surgeon may be a no no for another surgeon and visa versa. It must seem like a moving target.

In the end, we all have these hangups. For me, I realize these EI's are the equivalent of an emotional security blanket. But, they help me sleep better.

“There are moments in life, when the heart is so full of emotion
That if by chance it be shaken, or into its depths like a pebble
Drops some careless word, it overflows, and its secret,
Spilt on the ground like water, can never be gathered together”

~Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Sunday, August 5, 2007

Check out my Guestbook!

Blog Rating

I found this interesting site that actually rates your blog. It's called, "what's my blog rated?" I was hoping for more of an R rating but no such luck.


Saturday, August 4, 2007

The UHC

Check out the new post.

Please make comments on things you may feel are important to add in the hospital wars :).


Thanks

Friday, August 3, 2007

A sad day :(

“Censorship in any form is the enemy of creativity, since it
cuts off the life blood of creativity: ideas.”
~Allan Jenkins

Something happened today that I found very distressing. I was told that I might have to take down my blog. Let me step back.

A couple of weeks ago I wrote about an incident that happened between me and a radiologist. It was true. It did happen. It was my perspective on the situation. It was a rant or probably more of a vent of my frustrations. As pointed out by a number comments, it was obvious that I was in the right. (funny cheesy grin)

Some people commented about my bravado and that I was big man showing my clinical acumen:
both of you are such badasses. you guys are my heros! i can only hope to be a stud doctor like both of you by telling stories about how stupid other people are and how brave and clinically superior i am than everybody else.
Another posted how great my patient care was, how appropriately I title posts, and how well I read radiology reports:
or titling a post to teach an actual valuable lesson "not everyone will like you" and then describing how someone likes you so much they cry when you enter the room

"...but they will love me." is meant to be the rest of that post.

orthopods always go straight to the radiology reports when something is missed to make sure the radiologist missed it too... preparing to share/deflect the blame. If there is a lawsuit, do they tell the lawyers, though the radiologist also missed it, take it easy on them, they aren't that smart to begin with?
The last person commented on the my humbleness:
that one was a bit self-rewarding. Oh, well.
All of those comments were much appreciated. My skin is pretty thick, I can take the criticism. I do learn from those comments.

Also, in that blog entry, I used the curse words that I use on occasion. I have used them in some other blog entries, probably the most notable is FFT. For the most part, I swear in my head, as seen in a previous post about my head during a big case. I think my wife actually swears more than I do.

So, today I have received information that the above "said radiologist" came across my blog entry and had submitted a complaint about me for the "incident". He also brought up the "ADULT" language that was in my blog. Another concern that was brought up was HIPAA. The HIPAA thing threw me. Although I have referenced cases and disease disorders, I don't think I have ever mentioned a name, shown an xray, or placed patient information anywhere on my blog.

So, I will continue to post as long as I can. Some of the less dry, said in fun, tongue and cheek, and more personal posts may be gone, but at least my shell will be here. It is sad that in a country that has freedom of speech you are censored, your thoughts can be restricted, and you can't have a differing opinion. I am human. I make and have made mistakes. I have no problem saying when I am wrong or at fault. But, if I have a problem with a specific person, I first address that person directly. I welcome that dialog.

“Censorship reflects a society's lack of confidence in itself. It is a
hallmark of an authoritarian regime.”
~Potter Stewart