Shout Outs

Updated 3/2017-- photos/video and all links (except to my own posts) removed as many no longer active. and it was easier than checking each one.

Codeblog  is this week's host of Grand Rounds.  You can read this week’s “Trick or Treating” edition here.

Welcome to Grand Rounds!  This is volume 6, number 6…. and the 6th time I am hosting… during the week of Halloween.  Does anyone else find that creepy coincidentally satanic fascinating?!

For this edition, I thought we could go out Trick or Treating on Medblogger Lane.  I’m sure we will find some colorful stories along the way…

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Better Health highlights’ Evan Falchuk JD  post:  If I Could Fix One Thing About US Healthcare.

………….In response, a friend of mine challenged me:  if the system is too complicated, how should we simplify it?

I wish more policy-makers were asking this question.

For me, the answer is clear: Primary care.  Time was, your primary care doctor was able to serve as the hub of your medical activity.  He or she could spend all the time needed to figure out what was wrong and to coordinate with your specialists.  It’s not true anymore.  Patients are left on their own trying to navigate the system.  In many ways they end up acting  almost as their own primary care doctors.  Patients try to pick their specialists, find out what to do about their condition, decide on good treatment choices……………….

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H/T to @EvidenceMatters  for the link via twitter to the Jenner Museum.  What a wonderful website filled with history of Dr Edward Jenner and the story of the smallpox vaccination!

Interested in smallpox vaccination history as mentioned by @badastronomer? Jenner Museum in on Twitter @JennerMuseum

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When is it important for physician’s to tell patient’s about their own illnesses (the physician’s)?  Dr. Anne Brewster has multiple sclerosis.  She writes about revealing this to a patient with the same disease in her essay:  Boundary Issues: A Doctor with MS Confides in Her Patient

I called her at home to give her this news. While I informed her ……., she heard only “Multiple Sclerosis”. “What does this mean?” she asked, but she didn’t wait for my answer. She began to cry. “I am so young. There was so much I wanted to do. I wanted to have a family.”

“I have the same disease,” I told her. I had decided to reach across the space between us and to share a bit of myself. I went on to say that I have four kids, that I still ski, run, play lacrosse and work as a doctor, that I am healthy and energetic. “There is tremendous variability in how people do,” I offered, “and some people do very well. It is the unknown that is scary.”

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Good for fellow bloggers for taking on Suzanne Somers!  (photo credit)

• Suzanne Somers carpet bombs the media with napalm-grade stupid about cancer – Orac at Respectful Insolence
• Suzanne Somers’ Knockout: Dangerous misinformation about cancer (part 1) -- David Gorski at Science-Based Medicine
• Suzie's At it Again – Margaret Polaneczky,MD (aka TBTAM)
• Suzanne Somers, Larry King and Cancer - Enough is Enough (TBTAM)

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I just recently signed up for Skype (haven’t used it) but have wondered about using it as Shrink Rap suggests:  Skype Therapy.   I think HIPAA may prevent us from making the most of Skype, texting, etc.  Too many privacy/legal  issues for now and that’s a shameful waste of good technology.

So what do you think about the idea of videochatting with your shrink on the computer? Patrick Barta is a psychiatrist in Maryland who has started having some of his sessions (5 percent or so) on Skype. He's blogging about his experiences and talking about the good and the bad aspects. Do visit his blog: Adventures in Telepsychiatry and let him know what you think about Skype-Therapy!

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If you live in or near Washington DC, you may want to Bring your kids! Halloween at the Medical Museum, Sat. 10/31, 10am-1pm.  It’s a free event, but photo ID’s are required.

The National Museum of Health and Medicine and Family Magazine will host family-friendly Halloween activities for ages 5 and up. Children will be able to participate in a costume contest (with prizes!) and make skeleton crafts (a dancing macaroni skeleton, a medieval plague mask, and a skeleton wall hanging) as well as join in a Halloween-themed family yoga demonstration by Shakti Yoga.

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H/T to Dr Isis for this video on Polaroid.  I am a Polaroid fan and was saddened when they quit making the film.

Also, check out this post at Cocktail Party Physics:  images from supernovae to supermodels by Diandra Leslie-Pelecky

A brief review: Light can be modeled as photons, which are characterized by a wavelength λ and a frequency f. …………..…

The camera obscura, a system of lenses used to project images, was known in the 1000's CE, but it was an aid for drawing – there was no way to save the images. Daguerre developed a process in 1839 that employed copper plates and mercury vapor;…………..

Before film, photographs were taken on glass plates, which produce much more durable images, but are very difficult to carry in your wallet or purse………..

Eastman Kodak is credited with the first flexible (although not transparent) film in 1885…………..

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There has not been an announced guest or topic for this Thursday night  Dr Anonymous’ show.   The show starts at 10 pm EST.   Dr. A has a couple of nice videos up of his appearance on local TV news giving his take on H1N1.