Shout Outs

Updated 3/2017-- photos and all links (except to my own posts) removed as many no longer active. 

Doctor Fizzy is the host for this week’s Grand Rounds. You can read this week’s edition here (photo credit).

I attended my very first grand rounds as a third year med student. The talk was given by my former pathology professor to a large auditorium packed with students, residents, fellows, and attendings. I don't remember the topic of the lecture, but I do remember this:
Midway through the lecture, the professor called on me. In an hour-long lecture, he called on one person out of 200 in the audience, and somehow that person was me. I almost choked on my cinnamon-raisin bagel.   ……..

All in all, not my favorite grand rounds.

But this week's grand rounds are going to be awesome. I'm dedicating it to all the medical trainees that got humilated during lectures, pimped during rounds, or tried to answer three beeping pagers at once.  ……….

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H/T to @medrants who twitted  “Practicing Medicine Can Be Grimm Work - http://nyti.ms/kveFkD -  a beautiful op-ed from one of our med students”  

The NY Times Op-Ed piece is by Valerie Gribben:  Practicing Medicine Can Be Grimm Work

TODAY, after four arduous years of examinations, graduating medical doctors will report to their residency programs. Armed with stethoscopes and scalpels, they’re preparing to lead the charge against disease in its ravaging, chimerical forms. They carry with them the classic tomes: Harrison’s Principles of Internal Medicine and Gray’s Anatomy. But I have an unlikely addition for their mental rucksacks: “Grimm’s Fairy Tales.”………….

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Robin Young, Here and Now/NPR, interviewed Francesco Pia last Wednesday: What You Don’t Know About Drowning

……Lifeguarding consultant Francesco Pia has some advice for the summer about drowning. He worked as a lifeguard in New York’s Orchard Beach, and he made a documentary called “The Reasons People Drown,” that challenged a lot of misconceptions about drowning. He found that:

1.) Drowning is often silent: …..

2.) Drowning happens very quickly: ….

3.) Drowning often happens when people are around others: ….

Remember Drowning Doesn’t Look Like Drowning

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Check out this great advice from the Better Health post:  The Right And Wrong Ways To Strengthen Your Core Muscles

What do slouching, back pain, and a middling forehand or weak shot off the tee have in common? Often it’s a weak core—the girdle of muscles, bones, and joints that links your upper and lower body. Your core gives you stability and helps power the moves you make every day……..

Core Exercises: 6 workouts to tighten your abs, strengthen your back, and improve balance is available from Harvard Health Publications. You can read an excerpt here from the report with tips on checking and improving your posture. ……..

Core Exerise #1: Plank

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I’ve always been concerned about the number of drugs some patients have to take. The risk of side effects and bad interactions increases with each addition. H/T to Dr. Elaine Schattner (@medicallessons) to the link to this Scientic America article by Laura Newman: Overprescribing the Healthy Elderly: Why Funding Research and Drug Safety is Paramount

My frail, 92-year-old mother was prescribed 80 mgs of the cholesterol-lowering drug, or statin, simvastatin for years. She fell four times in the last four years of her life: the last fall was the least forgiving. Doctors diagnosed her with rhabdomyolysis, a life-threatening condition, and acute kidney failure; she was dead within 8 weeks. …..

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Dr. Sanjay Gupta speaks with Paul Stanley (KISS) about microtia and how he has dealt with it himself.

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Sarah McFarland, Threads Magazine, has a piece announcing: “Show Your Support" and Embellish a Bra (photo credit)

The 2011 American Sewing Expo is coming right up - September 23-25 at the Suburban Collection Showplace in Novi, Michigan…..

A staple exhibit at ASE is the annual entries in the "Show Your Support Bra Challenge." Sponsored by Coats & Clark and BurdaStyle, the contest showcases some amazing lingerie decorated by the skills of sewers across the country…..

You can find the Show Your Support Bra Challenge full rules and the entry form online at the ASE site. Good luck, and good for you if you enter!