Life of an Attending: Is this or will this be you?
Thanks to one of our residents, Hangyul, I just recently learned about a hilarious comic strip series called Scutmonkey Comics in the blog The Underwear Drawer. It is side-splitting funny.
Trick of the trade: Discounted medications at pharmacies
Many times, patients who we deem as “noncompliant” with medications may actually be financially unable to afford medications that we prescribe them. Thanks to Amy Kinard, I just learned about this great new website where you can find pharmacies with amazing discounts for common medications.
Article review: Importance of first clinical clerkship
What was your first clinical clerkship rotation?
Oddly, I started my third year with a sub-internship rotation on the Burn/Plastics service as my first rotation. Not sure how that happened… I managed my own patients like a 4th year student, did lots of wound care, and even got to harvest a few skin grafts. It was trial by fire.
In a recent JAMA article, 3rd year medical students who started their clinical experiences in an Internal Medicine rotation overall did better on overall clerkship grades, when compared those who started their rotations on the Ob/Gyn, Psychiatry, or Family Medicine service.
Paucis Verbis card: C1-C2 injuries
I’m starting to work on co-authoring the next edition of my chapter on “Spine and Spinal Cord Injury” within the textbook “Emergency Medicine” by Dr. Jim Adams (Northwestern EM Chair). There are some useful tables that I created that I thought you might find helpful. This is the first installment covering C1-C2 fractures. The next PV card will cover the lower cervical fractures.
I always forget which are stable and unstable. For instance, the above extension teardrop fracture looks innocuous but is an unstable fracture because the anterior longitudinal ligament is ruptured.
PV Card: C1 and C2 Fractures and Injuries
Go to ALiEM (PV) Cards for more resources.
Tips to building authenticity into your talk
For lecturers, much focus is placed on improving the visual display and factual content of your talk.
- Keep slides simple
- Add relevant, non-extraneous images
- Avoid cramming too much information into your talk
5 rules for creating great Powerpoint presentations
As much as people talk about “Death by Powerpoint”, many of us still use Powerpoint despite its many shortcomings. So how can we make our Powerpoint talks better?
This video reviews 5 great rules to live by. Interestingly, this dynamic video was built using Powerpoint by Nancy Duarte from Duarte Design. Of note, Duarte Design was the company behind the stunning slides which Al Gore used to present his compelling talk on An Inconvenient Truth.
What is "contextualizing" patient care?
Medicine is as much about Science as it is about Art. This is no better illustrated than an educational intervention study about “contextualizing” patient care, published in JAMA.
What is contextualization?
It is the “process of identifying individual patient circumstances (their context) and, if necessary, modifying the plan of care to accommodate those circumstances”. In other words, this is care beyond the evidence-based guidelines, beyond standardized quality measures, and beyond the checklists.