Those who work in [the] system know that they don’t win against it. They find ways to survive. They leave. They become embittered. They stay within a tightly circumscribed area of comfort and impact. Or they wrestle daily against the death of their humanity and compassion daily and continue to go it out. Heroes? Or fools?
Ryan Brooks, medical resident in Jamaica in First world healthcare expectations in a third world country
I have no precise knowledge of the state of the health system in Jamaica but this quote certainly applies to Mauritius too where healthcare is free and where those who can afford prefer the private clinics to the public sector.
Source: kevinmd.com
Low power scanning electron microscope image, showing osteoporotic architecture in the fourth lumbar vertebra of an 89 year old woman (x20). The bone is heavily eroded in places by the action of osteoclasts and consists mainly of thin, fragile struts. (via Bone Research Society)
Source: brsoc.org.uk
dédié à mes co-externes…
The Dichotomy of Diagnosis.
A classmate of mine sent this to me to my amusement. I have written in the past about my feelings on the importance of a good physical exam but sometimes it does make you wonder if it is worth doing. In medicine, they continuously tell you to “treat the patient, and not the numbers;” I think that expression extends to this realm too. There is something to be said about a physician’s clinical experience and the ability to assess patients through the five senses that a machine simply cannot translate to you. Instead, machines should act as a supplement to your own clinical abilities.
*s-s-snap goes the rubber glove! s-s-squirt goes the lube!*
Source: medicalstate
The AIDS Virus Was Officially Recognized 30 Years Ago Today. Featuring A Few Of The 16 Covers We’ve Produced.
The deadly disease first broke out in the homosexual communities of New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles. Later, it cropped up among heroin addicts, Haitian refugees and victims of hemophilia. And now, public-health experts fear, the epidemic has spread to infants and even unwary patients receiving blood transfusions. With each new case, they have become more alarmed — particularly because the cause of the illness is unknown.
Experts call the new disease acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS), meaning a breakdown in the body’s natural defenses that often leads to fatal forms of cancer and lethal bouts of infection. AIDS was first recognized in 1981. The Centers for Disease Control have now documented 827 cases, with 312 deaths, around the United States. The 38 percent mortality rate makes the disease as menacing as smallpox once was and considerably more deadly than such recent baffling epidemics as Legionnaire’s disease and toxic shock syndrome. Dr. Henry Masur of the National Institutes of Health notes that none of the victims he has studied has lived more than 18 months. “Once they develop a severe case of the disease, I suspect they all die,” he says.
Newsweek December 27, 1982
The nwk archivist strikes again.
Source: nwkarchivist
Ariana Page Russell has dematographic urticaria, a condition that causes her skin to react when scratched. She makes art on her body. And she’s not the only one, there’s a whole Flickr group devoted to this.
via kottke
(via ameberry)
Source: jayparkinsonmd
More than anything, the battle over prostate cancer screening raises a disturbing question: Are we as a society prepared to pay attention to scientific evidence?
Otis Webb Brawley, M.D.
Source: CNN
13 days of ECMO
I hope my last patient realises the luck he’s got that this technique already exists in my town.
Find and treat #TB
TB is on the increase in London, and is especially prevalent in the homeless population, where other underlying conditions, and the use of alcohol and drugs, can mask symptoms.
In this film we look at the work of the Find and Treat mobile unit - a dedicated team which scours the streets for cases of TB in the homeless. This also links to an economic analysis, published in the BMJ, which finds this is a very cost effective way of treatment and helps prevent further infections.
(by BMJmedia)
Source: youtube.com
“The human heart stripped of fat and muscle, with just the angel veins exposed.”
(know who shot this?) via loveyourchaos
Source: lastdollstanding.blogspot.com
