Five She Persisted Fabric Postcards

It feels appropriate to share these at this time.  After all March is women's history month and earlier this week was International Woman's Day.  These five quilted postcards honor women who persisted.

Harriet Tubman is a perfect example of a woman who persisted in the face of multiple difficulties.  A wonderful example of a civil rights activist. Finished size is 6.5 in X 8 in.

Marie Curie, persisted in her pursuit to be educated in a male dominated science field, was the first woman to win a Nobel Prize.  The quilted postcard is 8.5 in X 10.5 in.

Susan B. Anthony persisted in the struggle for women's rights including the right to vote.  We must persist as she did to gain equal pay, equal rights to education/work/etc.  The quilted postcard is 8 in X 8.75 in.

Dr. Elizabeth Blackwell was the first woman in America to become a physician.  As your quote shows, she had to persist in her struggle to do so. the struggles I had in medical school I am sure pale in comparison.  The quilted postcard is 7.5 in X 10 in.

Gertrude Elion was a chemist.  The postcard features a statement by Ms Elion:  "Don't be afraid of hard work.  Nothing worthwhile comes easily.  Don't let others discourage you or tell you that you can't do it.  In my day I was told women didn't go into chemistry.  I saw no reason why we couldn't."  The postcard is 7.5 X 9 in.

Shout Outs

Updated 3/2017--all links removed as many no longer active.

Dr. Rob (@doc_rob), More Musings (of a Distractible Kind), is the host for this week’s Grand Rounds. You can read this week’s Grand Rounds Vol 8 No 25: Super Tuesday Edition here.

Welcome to grand rounds, the best around the world of medical blogging! 

For those expecting a silly recitation of today’s posts in rhyme, this post will let you down.  But don’t be sad, as I have provided with an alternate version of grand rounds on my other blog, Llamaricks, which (if you hadn’t guessed) is not quite as dedicated to the serious side of things. 

Since today is “Super Tuesday” ……

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Check out Doctor David’s (@david65) blog for as he put it on twitter:  the “story I won't forget. Watch the video -- the look on my patient's face says it all.”  The post:  Music Can Heal

Well, maybe music can't cure cancer, but it can certainly heal the spirit.
Drew Seeley released a new song today that he wrote for my patient.
Watch the video here……

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H/T to @tbtam who tweeted this: “ The Before. Sad, beautifully written , perfectly told. We docs have all been there. . jama.ama-assn.org/content/307/9/… (Need JAMA subscript).  The link is to an essay by Jennifer Frank, MD:  The Before

This is the before. A moment suspended like a bubble floating on a warm summer breeze gently but inevitably toward the ground. I feel the pop coming, an implosion of the very center of your life. Anticipating what this moment would hold, I nevertheless hoped for something different. To be able to eagerly dial your number and shout out the good news to you in a breathless rush. It's not what we thought. It's not cancer.

Instead I take a deep breath, pressing each number slowly, cautiously, drawing out the moment before the burst…………….

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Go read Elaine’s (was @medicallessons, now @elaineschattner) new post:  Harsh Words, and Women’s Health at Risk

I’ll open with a confession –

Women’s health has never really been at the heart of ML. Your author has, his­tor­i­cally, rel­e­gated sub­jects like normal men­stru­ation, healthy preg­nancy and repro­duction and natural menopause to her gyne­col­ogist friends. Sure, I learned about the facts of life. I even studied them in med school and answered ques­tions, some cor­rectly, along the way. By now, I’ve lived through these real life-​​phases directly. But these topics never drew me. That’s changed now.

Women’s care – and lives, in effect – are jeop­ar­dized on three fronts:……………..

Shout Outs

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

Health 3.0 Blog  is the host for this week’s Grand Rounds. You can read this week’s edition here.

Welcome to this week’s edition of Grand Rounds. You can find the medical blogosphere’s best next week at Covert Rationing.

We’ve taken a different approach this week to organizing Grand Rounds. You can find all the submissions below in this post. But, we’ve also selected quotes from each blog and highlighted those on the main page. Consistent with our themes, we’ve also tagged all the posts related to health, happiness, design or innovation. You can search for these tags to see how each theme plays out. We’ve also added bits of commentary to some of the individual quotes and summaries - especially when we’ve read something recently that relates to the general topic or idea………

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I was aware of this new children’s book "Maggie Goes on a Diet" (I haven’t gotten to read it, but title makes me feel focus is wrong. Should be focused on eating healthy diet.), but @LindaP_MD’s tweet alerted me to a nice interview @drclaire did with @BridgetBlythe on @NECN about the book:  Talking to kids about weight, obesity

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Did you see the interview Albert Schweitzer (@SchweitzerASF) did with @docgurley?  --“The Addictive Power of Spending One’s Days Doing Something Worthwhile”: Five Questions for a Fellow with Jan Gurley, MD

Since 1979, ASF’s Lambaréné Schweitzer Fellows Program has selected senior U.S. medical students to serve clinical rotations as junior physicians at the iconic Schweitzer Hospital in Lambaréné, Gabon, Africa—the region’s primary source of health care since Dr. Albert Schweitzer founded it in 1913.

Jan Gurley, MD is one of those Fellows. ……….

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Check out the interview of @drkt at OnSurg.com:  Featured Surgeon, late summer 2011

First-year surgery resident Dr Katie has been sharing her educational experience online since undergraduate school. OnSurg is grateful for her participation in our Q & A:

What’s your story?

I first knew I wanted to be a doctor my senior year of high school (was going to go into Forensics from 7th-12th), and was told I’d never make it and that I’d change my mind. I knew what I wanted and wanted to prove people wrong at the same time. It wasn’t until the summer after my junior year that I actually had the chance to be in the hospital. When that time came, I knew that medicine was right for me.  ………….

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H/T to @DrSnit tweeting this:  “Monsters in the Dark by @chemo_babe bit.ly/reZDOi Parenting through cancer. "I don’t want to be the little boy whose mommy died.”   I hope you will go read the entire post.

…………….He grew earnest.
“But your heart will stop beating when you die. You can’t have love without a heart.”
“Love doesn’t just live in my heart. My love for you will continue on in your heart.”
Then he burst into tears and threw his arms around my neck.
“Mommy, I don’t want to be the little boy whose mommy died.”
I embraced him, stunned into silence. I looked for words of comfort. …………….

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H/T to @sandnsurf for finding and posting these “highly inappropriate adverts”:  High quality adverts (photo credit) 

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H/T to @BiteTheDust  for the link to this news article:   13 yr old designs breakthrough solar array based on Fibonacci sequence.

Plenty of us head into the woods to find inspiration. Aidan Dwyer, 13, went to the woods and had a eureka moment that could be a major breakthrough in solar panel design. ………

You can read Aidan’s award-winning essay here, which walks you through his experiment design and his results. But the short story is that his tree design generated much more electricity — especially during the winter solstice, when the sun is at its lowest point in the sky. At that point, the tree design generated 50 percent more power, without any adjustments to its declination angle. …………..

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The International Quilt Festival Summer 2011 Newsletter has a very nice tutorial for making a Patchwork/Purse Tote (pdf).  (photo credit)

Shout Outs

Updated 3/2017:  all links removed as many no longer active and it was easier than checking each one.

David, Health Business Blog, is the host for this week’s Grand Rounds.  You can read this week’s edition here.

When I first hosted Grand Rounds six years ago, the iPhone, iPad and Twitter didn’t exist, and Facebook was not yet available to the general public. Barack Obama had not appeared on the scene and there was no discussion of the Affordable Care Act. Yet a lot of the topics in that edition would be familiar to today’s reader including firearms, RomneyCare, patient safety and Google. Two blogs (InsureBlog and Clinical Cases) that were featured in that early edition are featured here, too.. ……..

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Yesterday,  NPR ran this  article by Carrie Feibel:  Heart With No Beat Offers Hope Of New Lease On Life  (photo credit)

The search for the perfect artificial heart seems never-ending. After decades of trial and error, surgeons remain stymied in their quest for a machine that does not wear out, break down or cause clots and infections.

But Dr. Billy Cohn and Dr. Bud Frazier at the Texas Heart Institute say they have developed a machine that could avoid all that with simple whirling rotors — which means people may soon get a heart that has no beat.   ……….

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Clink Shrink, Shrink Rap, offers a thoughtful post on involuntary treatment:  Are We Not Thugs?  (read the discussion in the comments)

The voice at the other end of the line was angry and accusatory: "You didn't even talk to me! You never knew my son! You didn't talk to any of us!"
I explained to her that since she had never even met the defendant, there was no way she could have any information that would be relevant to the accused's state of mind at the time of the crime. The victim and the defendant were total strangers and there was no apparent reason for the killing, which made the crime even more tragic. Her son was dead in a random incident, in a crime that was unquestionably motivated only by the defendant's untreated psychiatric symptoms.    …….

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Dr Val, Better Health, is now hosting a radio show called, "Healthy Vision with Dr. Val Jones."  It is currently available here on iTunes.  The show has three segments (one about the importance of regular eye exams, one about contact lens care, and one about UV protection for eyes). It's available as a full show (20 minutes) and as individual segments.

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This essay (or article) from Stefany Anne Goldberg, The Smart Set, was in my local paper this past Sunday.  As that source is subscription only, I found it elsewhere to share with you.  The essay is Can You See Me Now? Welcome to Deaf-World

The 19th-century poet Laura Redden Searing, who happened to be Deaf, wrote a story about a lonely bird with crippled wings who comes upon the Realm of the Singing.    …..

What Deaf people have realized about themselves in the last century is that being Deaf opens up a new mode of experience. And ASL is the language of that experience. Deaf people were creating their own world. But it was a world they would have to defend.

•

The newly published The People of the Eye sets out to define the Deaf-World and to fight for it. Where Deaf activists have spent decades arguing that deafness is not a defect but a character trait — a benefit even — The People of the Eye goes a step further. It asserts that Deaf is an ethnicity.  …….

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A few responses to the NY Times article by Karen S. Sibert:  Don’t Quit This Day Job

@medrants:  Medrants: Women in medicine - different strokes for different folks
@palmd: From the Underground NYT: Women are ruining medicine

I've written before about many of the challenges faced by women in medicine.  As more and more women enter medicine, there is a cultural shift struggling to be born.  ……….

As a society and a profession, we have to decide to take the role of women seriously. If we demean women's role in our profession, we may be more likely to demean our female patients and family members.

Richard L. Reece, MD (Medinnovation):  Health Reform, Women Physicians, and the Doctor Shortage
@scutmonkey:  Psychology Today:  The Mommy Wars, Medical Edition

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Leah, Free Motion Quilting, is one of the quilting blogs I follow.  She was recently listed as one of Quilter's Home Top 55!

Whoo Hoo! I was listed in the top 55 blogs by Quilter's Home Magazine!
Click here to read the magazine article and check out all the different blogs listed

This is crazy cool because one of the sort of kick butt moments of my life was when my Dad picked up a Quilter's Home magazine 2 years ago that had a similar blog and website list.

So is Barbara Brackman’s Material Culture blog.

Museum Exhibit: Violence, Women, and Art

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

I stumbled upon the news of this exhibit when I visited the CDC’s website and clicked on the button  “CDC Museum.”    Did you know the CDC had a museum?  Well, I don’t think I was aware of it.

This exhibit opened June 6th and will run through September 9, 2011 at the CDC’s Global Health Odyssey Museum.  The exhibit, Off the Beaten Path: Violence, Women and Art, focuses on the prevention of violence against women. 

The work of 28 contemporary artists from 24 countries is presented.  The art works address the issues of violence against women and girls around the world and their basic human rights to a safe and secure life.

Among the artists featured in Off the Beaten Path are: Yoko Ono (Japan), Louise Bourgeois (France), Wangechi Mutu (Kenya), Mona Hatoum (Palestine), and Hank Willis Thomas (USA).

The project which I was able to view online is powerful, emotional.  The exhibit can be viewed online:  Off the Beaten Path virtual exhibition (link no longer active, 3/2017)

or you can attend in person at the Global Health Odyssey Museum.  Their hours are Monday through Friday, 9 AM – 5 PM with hours extended on Thursday to 7 pm. The museum is closed on all federal holidays.

Some of the CDC’s quick facts on violence against women:

About one in 11 teens reports being a victim of physical dating violence each year.¹
About one in four teens reports verbal, physical, emotional, or sexual violence each year.²
About one in five high school girls has been physically or sexually abused by a dating partner.³
Each year, women experience about 4.8 million intimate partner related physical assaults and rapes. Men are the victims of about 2.9 million intimate partner related physical assaults.⁴
Intimate partner violence (IPV) resulted in 2,340 deaths in 2007. Of these deaths, 70% were females and 30% were males.⁵
The medical care, mental health services, and lost productivity (e.g., time away from work) cost of IPV was an estimated $5.8 billion in 1995. Updated to 2003 dollars, that's more than $8.3 billion.^{6, 7}

Related post:
Domestic Violence  (May 11, 2010)

Imagine

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

As you may know, I sew.   I grew up sewing many of my own clothes.  Now it’s mostly quilts, but I still occasional make an item of clothing.

It’s always fun to imagine how a certain pattern would work on the intended person (me, a friend, a niece, etc), how it would look in this fabric, this color, this print.

Always fun to imagine where you might wear the new dress, the new shirt, the new skirt.  Always fun to imagine how you might accessorize it.  Imagine the new shoes you might need.

Burda has a sewing blog I follow.  Yesterday one of their posts was title:  6 New Patterns in Sizes 44-52.  I was hopeful the featured models would be the same sizes.  They didn’t.  (photo credit)

Even worse, the models aren’t even shown wearing the pattern (inset) featured. 

Now, while I can look at the inset and imagine how it might look on me, in this fabric or that, in this color or that, what I really want to imagine is wearing the lovely dress on the right.

Wouldn’t it have been much more fair to a size 44-52 women who wants to look her best to feature the pattern made in the appropriate fabric on a woman her size?

I’m not the only one who feels this way.  Here’s a sampling of the comments:

by lila-1:  Aside from the fact that you have modeled the ‘plus size’ designs on skinny girls (wth??), the majority of these patterns are bordering on muumuus

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by Julianne Dodds:  I can’t really weigh in (ha!) on if these are good styles for plus-sized gals cause I don’t see any examples :P

I wish all women were a healthy size, athletic and active,  but we aren’t.  Pattern companies, as well as clothing manufactures, should provide appropriate models.  Size 2 – 6 models when selling to size 44 is NOT appropriate.

Check out Dr. Val’s recent post on Accepting Different Body Types, But Not Embracing Obesity

Longevity or Perfect Figure?

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

I’ve spent some time thinking about this survey.   I couldn’t find any better information on the survey than the press release from the University of the West of England (UWE).  Perhaps in the future it will be published in a journal for better review.

The  survey was apparently done by the  new eating disorder charity The Succeed Foundation in partnership with the University of the West of England (UWE).  The editor’s notes indicate 320 women (ages 18 – 65 years, average age 24.49)  studying at 20 British universities completed The Succeed Foundation Body Image Survey in March 2011.  

Notably, the survey found that 30% of women would trade at least one year of their life to achieve their ideal body weight and shape.

The research has also found that in order to achieve their ideal body weight and shape:

•        16% would trade 1 year of their life
•        10% would trade 2-5 years of their life
•        2% would trade 6-10 years of their life
•        1% would trade 21 years or more of their life

I would love to see an age breakdown of the respondents here.  Do we women become more comfortable with our bodies as we age?  Or did as many of the over 50 year olds want to trade longevity for “the perfect body” as the 20 year olds?

In addition to longevity, the survey also notes that in order to achieve their ideal body weight and shape, 26% of the women surveyed were willing to sacrifice at least one of the following:

•         £5000 from their annual salary (13%)
•         A promotion at work (8%)
•         Achieving a first class honors degree (6%)
•         Spending time with their partner (9%)
•         Spending time with their family (7%)
•         Spending time with their friends (9%)
•         Their health (7%)

Again, I would love to see an age breakdown.  It would be interesting to see how this might differ between the younger respondents vs the older (over 50 year olds) ones.

The survey results suggest that body dissatisfaction was common among the women surveyed, with 1 in 2 women saying that more needs to be done on their university campus to promote healthy body image.

•         46% of the women surveyed have been ridiculed or bullied because of their appearance.
•         39% of the women surveyed reported that if money wasn’t a concern they would have cosmetic surgery to alter their appearance. Of the 39% who said they would have cosmetic surgery, 76% desired multiple surgical procedures. 5% of the women surveyed have already had cosmetic surgery to alter their appearance.
•         79% of the women surveyed reported that they would like to lose weight, despite the fact that the majority of the women sampled (78.37%) were actually within the underweight or ‘normal’ weight ranges. Only 3% said that they would like to gain weight.
•         93% of the women surveyed reported that they had had negative thoughts about their appearance during the past week. 31% had negative thoughts several times a day 

Yes, I know as a plastic surgeon I make a living (in part) from cosmetic procedures, but I feel strongly that my nieces and other young women should be grow up to love themselves and their bodies.  

Related posts:
Steriod Use in Girls  (February 21, 2008)
Get Girls to Focus on Skin’s Appearance  (May 19, 2010)
Maternal Influence  (January 3, 2011)


REFERENCE

30% of women would trade at least one year of their life to achieve their ideal body weight and shape; UWE press release, March 31, 2011

Arkansas Women Bloggers Meetup

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

The first ever Arkansas Women Bloggers Meetup Scheduled! (photo credit) was held today at the Museum of Discovery. 

I attended it with Methodical Madness, @gastromom (we’ll get her to actually blog and not just tweet someday), and @ksboulden.  

I met several of the approximately 40 attendees.  Lunch was provided by Petite Jean Meats.  Elaine provided cupcakes for dessert.  Elaine blogs at Cupcake Crazy Arkansas.

Two of the attendees gave short presentations.  La Tonya (40 Tude) gave one on finding your voice.  Kyran (Planting Dandelions) talked about how to measure your blog’s influence in more ways than just numbers (or stats from your sitemeter).

There were door prizes!  I won (or rather my dog Rusty did) this one, homemade dog bonz from Mac the Labradoodle.  Mac, Rusty definitely approves!

 

Others I met include Nikki (NikkMo PaperCrafts), Christie (Fancy Pants Foodie),Desmond (Arkansas Research), and Kat (Tie Dye Travels).

It was a good meetup!  I made sure Christie (Fancy Pants Foodie) and @gastromom met. 

Shout Outs

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

Highlight Health is the host for this week’s Grand Rounds! You can read this week’s edition here.

Welcome to Grand Rounds: the Impact of Healthcare Reform.   For this edition of Grand Rounds, Vol. 7 No. 11, we’re focusing on the impact of healthcare reform: what are the changes to healthcare delivery, utilization, quality, costs (either as a provider or a patient) and outcomes. After all, these changes affect everyone, whether you’re a patient, a healthcare provider or a biomedical researcher.……..

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A beautiful love poem via twitter by  @otorhinolarydoc: An Otorhinolaryngological Love Poem - http://tl.gd/7a67bf

My ossicles shiver at the sound of your name
My cochlea swirls at the sound of your voice
I get symptomatic labyrynthitis when I see your beauty
And my world becomes vertiginous when you enter it

That’s the first verse, go read the rest.

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Wall Street Journal has an interesting article by Sue Shellenbarger:  Women Doctors Flock to Surprising Specialty.

People often assume women gravitate to certain professional fields because they have an innate liking for the work. Women become pediatricians because they love babies, for example, or they become veterinarians because they love animals.

So why are women flocking to colon and rectal surgery as an occupation of choice?  ………….

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From Shrink Rap comes a nice post by Dinah:  News Flash: Preauthorization Impacts Care

The American Medical Association had a press release on November 22nd and announced findings from their survey on the impact of insurance company preauthorization policies. Surprisingly, they discovered that these policies use physician time and delay treatment. It's funny, because preauthorization policies were designed to save money. And I imagine they do, for the insurer, but they cost money for everyone else. ………..

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Check out this nice video designed to teach basic suturing techniques to medical students:

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Wow, these are lovely but I don’t think my relatives would like to have their food served on them.  H/T Street Anatomy.  (photo credit). 

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A.Word.A.Day is having a contest.  Deadline for submissions is this Friday, December 10th. 

Have you come across a pleonasm somewhere? How about making up your own examples of pleonasm? Send us your pleonasms, whether homegrown or captured in the wild (include a picture, if possible). The best entry will receive a copy of the word game WildWords (courtesy WildWords Game Company) and a runner-up will receive a copy of the word game One Up! (courtesy Uppityshirts).

Would love to hear your examples of pleonasm with a medical twist or link.

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Isn’t this bag wonderful!  The pattern for this Noriko Handbag  is free from Lazy Girl  as her  “year-end gift to you.”   (photo credit)

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I’m hoping to attend with a couple of friends -- Arkansas Women Bloggers Meetup Scheduled! (photo credit)

When: December 11, 2010 11am-1pm

Where: Museum of Discovery @ 500 President Clinton Avenue

Why: Meet other bloggers and help decide future activities/goals for AWB

We will keep you updated with event details as we pull them together.

To RSVP, you can leave a comment on this post. If you're on Facebook, you can RSVP and invite friends at the event page. You can also RSVP by emailing us at arkansasbloggers@gmail.com.

Grand Rounds Vol 6, No 26

I want to thank you all for contributing such wonderful posts for this week's Grand Rounds. And, thank you for allowing me to make it a "women’s” theme as March is the month of International Women’s Day and Women’s History Month (here in the United States).

Sterile Eye tells us the story of Jan van Rymsdyk – Drawer of Wombs. Here is one of the beautiful sketches included in the post.

In October 2008 I visited the Hunterian Museum in Glasgow, where William Hunter’s great book of obstetrics was on display. Published in 1774, The Anatomy of the Human Gravid Uterus did much to advance the understanding of human pregnancy. The book contains 34 copper engravings. 31 of these magnificent medical illustrations were made by a mysterious man called Jan van Rymsdyk.

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Our medical librarian Laika, Laika’s MedLibBlog, tells us about a wonderful woman scientist in her post Stories [1] – Polly Matzinger, the Bunny & the Dog.

….He continued with his typical Czech accent, serious but with a twinkle in his eyes.

“It is a SHE” …….

“It is a she and ….… a very beautiful one”

Then he told us that Polly Matzinger, for that was her name, was once a Playboy bunny and a waitress at a bar frequented by scientists………..

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Captain Atopic’s beautifully written post tells us about a woman and her tattoo: Freedom.

The building had four stories. In a narrow street in Baoji, west of Xi'an, the damp shell of a structure housed backpackers on its top three floors. The dorms exuded marijuana, travel must and provided many visitors with a fresh case of athletes' foot or worse. The occupants sat, huddled in the subzero temperatures playing cards and sharing a bong, partly for warmth, partly just to negate the feelings of loneliness and despair Baoji seemed to extract from twenty-something global travelers. …….

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Julie, Bedside Manner, helps us with Making Sense of Suffering Through Poetry. She presents a poem written by her friend and colleague Beth Lown, MD.

…... The poem is about Beth’s effort to imagine this patient’s experience and to empathize with her suffering…….

Let me know what you think of the poem.

Leylo and the Land Mine *

An ebony leg leaned
against the clinic wall,
snow melting
on its sandal-clad foot

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CancerDoc write a powerful post about the impact of a patient on a doctor: Denmark

R.N. just died.
She was my first breast cancer patient out of fellowship and training. My first breast cancer patient where I was the "doctor". No backup. Nobody to turn to for advice. I write the orders, I explain the side effects. I hold the hands.

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From Mothers in Medicine comes the first Topic Week post: Tips for Surviving Call while Pregnant. There are actually, good tips for non-preggers folks too. There are ten great tips. Check them out and check out the blog.

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Laurie, A Chronic Dose, asks how effective Doctors as Advocates? are as she discusses communication skills in advocating for their patients.

……….An advocate is someone who realizes there is a lot more to a successful outcome (surgical or otherwise) than simply what data reveals.

We all deserve advocate

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Kevin,MD feels Pelvic exam simulators do medical students a disservice due to the missing communication (feedback) between patient and doctor

….no matter how good the simulator is, it cannot replicate an actual person. Especially for men, doing a pelvic exam is more than the procedure itself, but learning how to interact with the female patient from beginning to end……

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Dr Am Ang Zhang, The Cockroach Catcher, notes this is the 30th Anniversary of the National Women’s History Project with her post: NWHP: Writing Women Back into History. “It was an interesting experience looking back at “treatment modalities” of mental disturbance in one of the most cultured city in Europe at the start of the 20th Century.”

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I’d like to introduce you to a fairly new medical blogger, Deborah L. Benzil, MD who blogs at Women Neurosurgeon: Heart and Hands. Here’s the beginning of her poem: First Meeting.

Wash hands

Step over the red line

Irish gentleman

Stripped of dignity and clothes…

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Dr Shock tells us about women and anorexia nervosa in his post, The Neuroscience of Anorexia Nervosa.

One of the most striking features of those suffering from anorexia nervosa is their perception of their bodies. You can put them in front of a mirror and they will still tell you they’re to fat when in fact they’re skinny. A recent publication in Nature Proceedings has an explanation

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Dr. Charles, The Examining Room, tells us how Non-Homogenized Milk is Better Than Disneyworld

Mmmm. I just discovered non-homogenized milk – the kind with the thick layer of cream on top and more watery milk below. You have to shake it up before each serving, and the little flecks of buttery cream never quite disappear. …. But the taste is far superior to homogenized milk. Think milk with a hint of butter.

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And while Dr Charles makes the point “In terms of diet, weight loss, and optimal health, moderation seems prudent” Bob Vineyard, InsureBlog, writes about a woman who doesn’t seem to believe in moderation. Bob ask Who is the Biggest Loser?, the woman who wants to gain weight or society who will end up paying for her efforts. (photo credit)

Donna Simpson is proud of her plus size 600 pound figure and wants everyone to know it. Her 150 pound husband not only approves but is encouraging her to continue her pursuit of tipping the scales at 1000 pounds.

Happy Hospitalist weighs in on the same woman in his post: Super Morbid Obesity: Woman Proclaims "I Want To Be 1000 pounds. Happy and I both see this as a sad story of a woman who's main goal in life is to weight 1000 pounds so men can watch her eat in bikini.

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It seems apparent that Mrs. Simpson doesn’t care to exercise, but I am a fan of exercise. I believe it is important for good health. So does Dr. Ves Dimov, Clinical Cases and Images: CasesBlog, who tells us How to Exercise While Blogging or Doing Other Computer Work. Good information!

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Dr. Jolie Bookspan, The Fitness Fixer, relays how New Healthy Employment Programs for Developmentally Disabled can be accomplished.

Peggy Santamaria is bringing my healthy daily life techniques to developmentally disabled adults. She has made a new program to transition developmental disability to Developmental Ability. After her success story appeared - Shoveling Snow - Reader Wins Mother Nature's Fitness Challenge with Fitness Fixer,…

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How to Cope with Pain tells us about the Connection Between Headaches and Abuse.

Did you know that a history of abuse - emotional, physical and sexual – is common in women who have headaches. A history abuse is also associated with depression and stress. So reports a new study by Gretchen Tietjen, a Professor of Neurology at the University of Toledo and Director of their Headache Treatment and Research Program.

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David, Health Business Blog, writes More on the overuse of mammography in elderly women

An oncologist friend spotted my blog post (Overuse of mammography in elderly women with cognitive impairment) …..…..

I’d like to see the debate broadened to include a frank discussion of the potential harm from too much screening. Excessive screening and associated harm to the frail elderly population is one aspect of that story.

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Nancy, Teen Health 411, sends us a post regarding a new marketing campaign by Kotex that pokes fun at the previous tampon ads: Feminine Care Rebellion - Period! (photo credit)

Women are talking about their bodies and their health - which is good! Right?
You would not think so if you are following the debate around the new UbyKotex.com marketing campaign, which I think is brilliant! …….

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Joseph Kim, NonClinicalJobs.com, ask if the question To CME or not to CME?

The other day, I was speaking with a physician about job opportunities in the CME (continuing medical education) industry. There are fewer jobs in CME compared to 5 or even 3 years ago. Why?

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GeriPal feels that Social Workers are Awesome

….I know we should avoid generalizations, but isn't it the case that all social workers are nice? Perhaps it is this niceness, combined with their knowledge and skills that makes them so indispensable. …….

Geriatrics practice would be impossible without social workers.

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Pallimed comments on Palliative Care: (Un?)-Necessary Specialty

One of the web's more popular doctor bloggers, the anonymous* Dr. Lucy Hornstein (aka #1 Dinosaur - her blogging pseudonym), recently posted an entry titled: Palliative Care: An Unnecessary Specialty.

Now before you get too mad or defensive (like I first did), go read the post and the comments. She is a family medicine doctor and the main thrust of the article (despite the provocative title) is that all doctors and especially primary care doctors should be skilled in palliative care. …….

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David Harlow, Health Care Law Blog, interviewed Peter Neumann, Director, Tufts Center for the Evaluation of Value and Risk in Health, about the role of cost-effectiveness research in health care policy.

The national debate on health care reform is currently focused on health insurance reform -- coverage, one of the proverbial three legs of the health care reform stool: coverage, cost and quality.

In order to bend the cost curve -- no matter what the approach to health care reform: be it federal legislation, state initiatives, federal pilots and demonstration projects, and/or private sector initiatives -- most would agree that we need a rational approach to cost-effectiveness research, or comparative effectiveness research that we can all rely upon……….

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Kim, Emergiblog, has some thoughts regarding health care reform legislation which she addresses in her post: between the lines of fear and blame

…..Our system has issues, no question.

*****

So, will the new health care legislation make for healthier communities by providing jobs, parks, grocery stores, education opportunities and health care clinics to poverty-stricken neighborhoods?……

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Dr. Mary Johnson, Dr J’s HouseCalls, tells us about the horrific ordeal of being sued for “libel” even though the suit was unsuccessful in her post: On Oprah Winfrey And Nomvuyo Mzamane And A Defamation Lawsuit In Philly.

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Bongi, other things amanzi, tells us of an exemplary fellow South African surgeon

part of the job is to treat some unsavoury people. sometimes you know what it is they have done. mostly you don't. sometimes you even may make a difference. but mostly you just do your job. after all it is not our part to play judge and jury (and, in our case, executioner)……..

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Chris, Life in the Fast Lane, tells us about doctors in the emergency department Wrestling with Risk

….It’s true I am fascinated by the concept of risk, and decision-making in environments that are time-pressured and information-limited. Nevertheless, Dr. David Schriger raised more than a few points in his talk that even the most ‘risk averse’ person would find interesting, some of which I’ll discuss below…….

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Paul Auerbaur, Medicine for the Outdoors, tells us about a man who helped his dog (man’s and woman’s best friend) who got bitten by a rattlesnake in his post he did what?

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Allergy Notes, tells us how Basophil expression levels of CD203c might be used to monitor asthma.

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Beka, Medscape Blogs, wants to hear from fellow nurses regarding input about Charge experiences.. has it changed over time...? Do You Recall Your First Shift Charge Nurse Experience? (free registration required).

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Amy, Diabetes Mine, wants to educate us on the FDA Hearings on Blood Glucose Meters – A Patient Advocate’she Perspective

Experts are always split on these issues it seems, so I’m sure you are as curious as I am as to what came out of this great debate. I was fortunate to spend some time on the phone with Ellen Ullman, a patient advocate and research associate at Close Concerns — who was the ONE AND ONLY PATIENT REPRESENTATIVE invited to speak at these FDA hearings.

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Next week Grand Rounds will be hosted by Evan Falchuk, See First Blog. Thanks to Dr. Val Jones and Dr. Nick Genes for the work they do to ensure the continued success of Grand Rounds. If you would like to be a future host, please contact Nick.

“A Day in the Life”

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

I was going to include this yesterday in my “Shout Outs” but was afraid it would get lost in the middle of it all.  The blog, Mothers in Medicine, has done a topic week devoted to “a day in the life.”  The posts have been amazing! 

I included a couple written before the official topic week.  Here is a list.  Enjoy!

• A random day in my life posted by RH+ (Nov 7, 2009)
• A Day in the Life posted by Gizabeth Shyder (Nov 26, 2009)
• How I Spent My Maternity Leave by ZT (Dec 4, 2009)
• The ebb and flow of an academic neurologist, guest post by AC (Dec 7, 2009)
• Which Day? posted by T (Dec 7, 2009)
• Call Day: Internal Medicine Intern , guest post (Dec 7, 2009)
• One day in my clinician-educator internist's life, last week posted by KC (Dec 8, 2009)
• Day in the Life of a Middle Aged Full Time Student/Mom/Wife/Friend etc .etc. etc. , guest post by PeggiKaye (Dec 8, 2009)
• A day at the refugee clinic posted by FreshMD (Dec 9, 2009)
• A Day in the Life of a Part-Time Pediatrician , guest post (Dec 9, 2009)
• An Average FD Weekend posted by Fat Doctor (Dec 9, 2009)
• Day in the life of a physiatrist posted by Fizzy (Dec 9, 2009)
• A Day in the Life of a Neurosurgeon – SERIOUSLY? , guest post (Dec 10, 2009)
• A day in the life of a part-time medical oncologist posted by Tempeh (Dec 10, 2009)
• A Typical Call Day, Ob/Gyn Style posted by dr. whoo? (Dec 10, 2009)
• A Day in the life of an O&G Registrar mom,  guest post by "Juggler" (Dec 10, 2009)
• A Medical Student Mother's Day in the Life , guest post by MS3Mommy (Dec 11, 2009)
• Day in the Life of an Orthodonist, guest post by Anna (Dec 11, 2009)
• Another Day: The Life of a Clinical Neurologist posted by Artemis (Dec 11, 2009)
• Day in the Life: Conference with cub #2, guest post by Tigermom (Dec 12, 2009)
• A day in the life of an MS1 with four kids under age 8, guest post by Indymom (Dec 12, 2009)
• Premed RN mom's day in the life, guest post by MomRN2Doc1day (Dec 13, 2009)
• Third-year internal medicine resident, on maternity leave, guest post (Dec 13, 2009)
• My day last Wednesday posted by JC (Dec 13, 2009)

“Female Physicians Fill Halls of Medicine”

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

Interesting article in the November issue of the Journal of the Arkansas Medical Society regarding women in medicine -- Healing the Gap: Female Physicians Fill Halls of Medicine by Casey L Penn (pdf, pp 104-106)

Harriet Hunt was the first woman to apply to Harvard Medical School. The year was 1847, and Harvard rejected her – as it would all women for the next century. It was 1945 before the school would finally
admit women medical students.

Today, Hunt’s experiences seem like ancient history to students like UAMS senior medical student Sarabeth
Bailey, who decided at a young age to enter the medical field. Bailey, a small town girl from DeQueen, Arkansas, was the first in her family to pursue a higher education, and found the doors of UAMS wide open to her when she entered in 2006………….

Related post

Women in Medicine (April 24, 2008)

Women in Surgery (August 21, 2008)

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.

Women in Surgery

 Updated 3/2017--photos and all links removed as many are no longer active and it was easier than checking each one.

I have noticed several posts / articles on women (or the lack) in surgery.
Women in Surgery; The Differential: Medscape Med Students; Lucia Li; August 1, 2008

In one of my regional placements, I met a surgeon who said that “women are killing surgery”; what he meant was that as the majority of medical graduates are now women, most of them will shun surgery for its stereotypes. This will reduce the number of good candidates going into surgery, lowering its standards. Surgery needs to attract women for continued excellence in practice. I am uncertain about the benefits, or even the need, for positive discrimination, but educational initiatives which promote surgery as a realistic career option for women are vital.

WSJ article: Women Remain Scarce in Neurosurgery; Jacob Goldstein; August 14, 2008
WSJ article: For Female Surgeons, Barriers Persist; Jacob Goldstein; August 16, 2008
Mothers Don't Let Your Daughters Grow Up to be Doctors; posted by Fizzy, Mothers in Medicine Blog; August 18, 2008 [not just don't let them be surgeons, but don't let them be doctors]

I went looking for more information:
Women in Neurosurgery, WINS
Association of Women Surgeons
Women in surgery: do we really understand the deterrents?; Arch Surg. 2006 Apr;141(4):405-7; Gargiulo DA, Hyman NH, Hebert JC

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Potential deterrents to a surgical career.

RESULTS: Men and women had a similar interest in a surgical career before their surgical rotation (64% vs 53%, P = .68). A similar percentage developed a mentor (40.0% vs 45.9%, P = .40). Women were far more likely to perceive sex discrimination (46.7% vs 20.4%, P = .002), most often from male attending physicians (33.3%) or residents (31.1%). Women were less likely to be deterred by diminishing rewards (4.4% vs 21.6%, P = .003) or workload considerations (28.9% vs 49.0%, P = .02). They were also less likely to cite family concerns as a deterrent (47.8% vs 66.7%, P = .02) and equally likely to be deterred by lifestyle during residency (83.3% vs 76.5%, P = .22). However, women were more likely to be deterred by perceptions of the "surgical personality" (40.0% vs 21.6%, P = .03) and the perception of surgery as an "old boys' club" (22.2% vs 3.9%, P = .002).

Women in General/ Trauma Surgery; The Student Doctor Network Forum; thread began in 2007 and continues
Women in Surgery--Past, Present and Future; Dixie Mills MD; Department of Surgery, Maine Medical Ctr; Sept 2003 (PDF)
Website of the week--Women in surgery; BMJ. 1999 September 25; 319(7213): 860; Douglas Carnall
Women in Non-Traditional Residencies; P&S Journal: Spring 1995, Vol.15, No.2; By Kristen Watson

The daughter of a neurosurgeon, Dr. Epstein claims that following in her father's footsteps was a "congenital defect." Aspiring to be a surgeon since age 4, ..........

Dr. Epstein says most women in medicine do not pursue academic posts because they are actively discriminated against in the university setting. She also claims that female neurosurgical attendings in university positions are assigned less interesting cases and are given less operating time. "You have to have tremendous determination and work twice as hard for the recognition," Dr. Epstein says. And she does work hard, with more than 80 published works to her credit, some in collaboration with her father.

"We need more women to go into surgery and stay in it," Dr. Epstein says, "women who don't choose the 'mommy track'-working 9 to 5 just three days a week. We need more women in surgery full time." Dr. Epstein says it is not impossible for female doctors to manage both a full-time career and a family, but, like most of her peers, she has no children.

There are many more articles, but I'll stop there. It would appear that things have not changed much over the course of time.   I'm not sure I agree with Dr Epstein on managing a full-time career and a family.  As with the male surgeon, I think that would greatly depend on your spouse.  I do think it has to be very tough to do, but balancing life's responsibilities is tough anyway you look at it. 

I can't say that I was encouraged to become a surgeon. There was one female general surgery resident, one female orthopedic resident, one female ENT resident, no female urology residents, and no female neurosurgery residents at UAMS when I was a student and no female surgeons on staff in any surgery department. [I left out the Ob-Gyns simply because they are in a department of their own, not because I don't consider them surgeons.]  Currently at UAMS the dean is a female pediatrician, Debra Fisher MD. Here are the current female surgeons on staff at UAMS.

General Surgery

• V. Suzanne Klimberg, M.D. (Surgical Oncology--Breast)
• Anne Mancino, M.D. (Surgical Oncology -- Breast)
• Diane H Rhoden, M.D. (General/Endoscopic Surgery)
• Ronda Henry-Tillman, M.D. (Surgical Oncology -- Breast)

ENT (Otolaryngology)

• Lisa Buckmiller, M.D.

Ophthalmology

• Laurie Gray Barber, M.D.
• Romona L. Davis, M.D.
• Inci I. Dersu, M.D.
• Bhairavi V. Kharod, M.D.
• Nicola M. Kim, M.D.

Orthopedic --

• Ruth L. Thomas, M.D.

Urology -- None
Plastic Surgery (there wasn't a plastic surgery dept when I was a student and still no residency program)--None
Neurosurgery -- none

When I was a student, I looked up to the two female surgery  residents (the general and orthopedic mentioned above). I did receive a small amount of mentoring from the orthopedic resident, but had no true contact with the general surgery (she was finishing up when I was a 3rd year student). I fell in love with surgery as a third year student. I wish I had used the female ortho resident more as a mentor and maybe found a staff surgeon to use as a mentor. I wish there had been more encouragement along the way, but there is no reason to rehash the past here.

I would encourage any female student interested in surgery to actively find a mentor (male or female). Don't let anyone talk you out of it.  We need good surgeons, male or female.

Women in Medicine

Updated 3/2017-- photos and links removed as many are no longer active

Harriet Hall from the Science-Based Medicine blog wrote a piece on "Women in Medicine" recently. It is interesting reading, as I hope her book will be. I've ordered my copy.

Something very interesting is happening in medicine. It’s happening slowly, quietly, and steadily, with no help from affirmative action programs.

At the beginning of the 20th century about 5 percent of the doctors in the United States were women. In 1970, it was still only 7 percent. By 1998, 23 percent of all doctors were women, and today, women make up more than 50 percent of the medical student population. In 1968 only 1.2% of practicing dentists were women. By 2003, 17% of dentists were women, and 35% of dentists in new active private practice were female.

International Women's Day

 Updated 3/2017-- photos and all links removed as many no longer active.

Today is International Women's Day (IWD). It is the global day meant to connect all women around the world and inspire us to achieve our full potential. This is my wish for all women on this day and every day whatever field or dream they wish to pursue.

Reuters News has a very nice slide show on "Being a Woman". It only begins to touch the surface, but it is worth checking out.

Margaret Allen, MD was born 1948. "She entered the University of California, San Diego Medical School knowing she liked learning how things work, liked to fix problems and liked to work with her hands. A career in cardiothoracic surgery seemed a natural for her, an assumption later born out in 1985 when, working at Stanford University as a resident with famed cardiac pioneer Dr. Norman Shumway, she became the first female surgeon in the United States to transplant a heart."

MORE INSPIRATION
Women Physicians 1850s-1970s; Drexel University College of Medicine Archives & Special Collections
Women in Medicine; University of Virginia Health System
Women in Surgery: Past, Present, and Future; Dixie Mills MD (PDF file)