Odysseys of George

Welcome to Odysseys of George. I received many submissions of which I had to make a choice. As the morning comes, I greet you with the scones and tea I laid out for you earlier.

Now, I present to you, Grand Rounds 4.12 with a diving theme. Gear up your booties and wetsuits and carry along your tanks as we backroll into the depths of the medical blogsphere.

As important as the fishes are to the sea, so are our patients to us, healthcare providers. There were many articles on patients and their ordeal but these took to my attention.

As we descend, Trauma Queen puts up with fat chance of getting an ill lady into the ambulance. This article would probably make you put down your meal immediately and reassess yourself. And if you think you have put on the extra kilos and wish to shed them surgically, then perhaps Christian Bachmann could give you the statistics! And if you think that the topic of obesity stops here, Sandy Szwarc gives us a reality check that obesity has become the greatest threat to the lives of pregnant women.

Marine lives are extremely sensitive but not as sensitive as this almost comical post submitted by Susan Palwick of an ER patient who causes duress among the ER staff for being racist.

Diving into the underwater world is like exploring a dream or fantasy. And much more for these sick children as their dreams become reality. ValJones writes on Tear Jerkers a heart wrenching story of the efforts by Make-A-Wish Foundation to make these children’s dreams a reality.

As we continue to descend, we find a wide variety of marine life.

The variety of marine life and their colours begin to stand out even more for Dean Moyer’s patient who had Lasik eye surgery done. However, Dr. T found himself becoming the patient and he writes about it in his blog as Post-op Dr T.

Swimming in a file, these batfishes appear to adhere to certain etiquette. Talking about etiquette, Counting Sheep wrote a nice article on the 11 rules of the Operating Room!

These cleaner fishes, remind me of the hard working and dedicated nurses we have taking care of our patients.
Why Should I Be A Nurse? by Kim relates an article she has been wanting to write for a long time but what touched me was of course, the greatest reason for choosing to be a nurse ……

Sometimes we tend to follow the pack without realising that we as physicians have certain stands to make. An example of this would be as Toni Brayer wrote about the Physician’s ethical and legal role in Force Feeding prisoners.

As we reach the depths of 28metres, we meet these graceful yet feared creatures of the sea.

However, these creatures have become a controversial issue as many of them lay dead for their fins.

Controversies occur in medicine too. One of such is “The Blasphemy of C-peptide Removal” by DiabetesMine.com. The issue is that there is some scientific evidence indicating that C-peptide can improve neuropathy, kidney function, and high blood pressure in Type 1 diabetics — and yet insulin manufacturers have done away with the C-peptide, some say, because they don’t find it profitable. Or is the evidence strong enough?

Then we have patients who are so misconstrued in their thinking that expensive means excellence as KOLAHUN writes the Costs of Medicine.

Henry Stern poses a controversial question, “Why would someone buy meds and then not take them?” in his article Drugs Don’t Work and perhaps after reading his article, we wonder whether we are all doing something of that sort too!

But some pharmaceuticals seem to change their marketing strategies.
Rx drug maker directly engaging bloggers? writes Dmitriy Kruglyak. A biopharma specializing in drugs to treat and manage neurological diseases, sleep disorders, cancer, pain and addiction are hosting a webcast featuring a Q&A with Jeffrey M. Dayno, MD, VP of Medical Services on Thursday, December 13, 1:30 – 3:00 p.m. EST. Check it out!

And as we begin to surface, we realize the need for government agencies and marine groups to unite and maintain the marine life, just as in health services too.

Prudence writes passionately about the role of religion and health when the government of Phillipines clashes with the church as the church manages to hinder the country’s progress in controlling STDs and other reproductive health problems.

Another Milk in the Wall by Disease Proof talks about an issue where there would be lunch wardens patrolling the lunchroom to make sure all kids finish their milk. “We don’t need no thought control…Teachers leave them kids alone,” goes the classic Pink Floyd song.

Then perhaps Nancy Brown, would insist that children and teens in the United States need more milk, sunshine, and exercise!. But then again these are two totally differing issues or are they not?

Diving has become my passion and hobby, and having a hobby is important. Some are into techno and others into land based hobbies. There were two articles on this, which were,

Digital Pedometers by Joshua Schwimmer who has found a weight loss gadget which counts steps for his patients. Since counting the steps yourself is impractical even for the truly obsessive, the best way to target 10,000 steps a day (roughly equivalent to half an hour of walking) is to use a pedometer.

And for those with love for the outdoors, Paul Auerbach, takes this opportunity to make you aware of the International Journal of Wilderness. The journal is published three times a year.

And if all this reading has caused you to develop neck pain, Jolie Bookspan has some tips to fix the pain. Hopefully, once you feel better, we can move on to next week where SHP, a junior psychiatrist, will host the Grand Rounds 4.13.

Before we set off for the festive season and holidays, I shall strongly urge you to get aid from Nurse Hilary to help you beat the holiday blues, thanks to Mother Jones. Kerri Morrone, on the other hand, writes about the willpower it takes to make it through the holiday season without tossing all health cares to the wind.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all!

This entry was posted on Monday, December 10th, 2007 at 10:06 pm and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.