MedWorm provides a medical RSS filtering service. Over 6000 RSS medical sources are combined and output via different filters. This feed contains the latest medical blog items that have been tagged with 'essays'. Sat, 03 Sep 2011 02:18:12 +0100 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5008261&cid=t_107401_106_f&fid=36682&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FSutureForALiving%2F%7E3%2FL2VYhTgfLcg%2Fshout-outs.html 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... Suture for a Living blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5008261 Tue, 05 Jul 2011 11:44:14 +0100 5008261 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4997584&cid=t_107401_106_f&fid=36682&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FSutureForALiving%2F%7E3%2F3_eILPTDhjM%2Fhappy-4th-of-july.html I made this cheesecake for the family cookout.  On the healthier side, I am also roasting corn-on-the-cob to contribute.     I would encourage you all to remember your sunscreen as you get up out of your chairs and head outside.   Watch out for the heat.  Be safe as you enjoy the fireworks. ………………. I wish you all could read this wonderful essay in its entirety:  Sleepless by Joshua Alley, MD in the June 22 issue of JAMA (full reference below).  It is an essay that speaks of how we treat our enemies I thought about our enemies tonight, and why and how we physicians care for them.  …. …, but the reason I went nearly sleepless that night is so that I can sleep all the other nights. It's essentially the same reason I take extra... Suture for a Living blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4997584 Mon, 04 Jul 2011 11:39:00 +0100 4997584 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4676852&cid=t_107401_106_f&fid=36682&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FSutureForALiving%2F%7E3%2FECl58koJnlk%2Fshout-outs.html Kim, Emergiblog, is the host for this week’s Angry Birds issue of Grand Rounds! You can read this week’s edition here (photo credit). Welcome to the Angry Birds edition of that weekly compendium of medical blogosphere goodness, Grand Rounds! I’ve chosen my addiction du jour, Angry Birds, as the theme for my 7th turn as host. For those who are not familiar, Angry Birds is a game in which Green Pigs steal Bird eggs, causing the Birds to become angry, start screeching and begin catapulting themselves from sling shots in an attempt to destroy the Pigs, who house themselves in various structures and giggle at the Birds. Got it? Okay then! Let’s get started!  ……….. …………………………… Last Tuesday @EvidenceMatters alerted me via twitter to a panel discus... Suture for a Living blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4676852 Tue, 05 Apr 2011 11:52:11 +0100 4676852 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3976526&cid=t_107401_106_f&fid=36682&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FSutureForALiving%2F%7E3%2FiC1uEAWYNqk%2Fhands-guidance-and-germs.html Some interesting items this week involving hands.  The one which has gotten much news coverage is the issue of hand washing.  Take a look at some of the headlines: High five! Hand washing on rise (Chicago Sun-Times) For Many, 'Washroom' Seems to Be Just a Name (New York Times) 93% of women wash their hands vs. 77% of men (USA Today) All the above are reporting on the same study, but the difference in presentation is amazing to me.   The above study doesn’t involve hand washing in a hospital or doctor’s office setting.  The JAMA article (2nd reference below) does, but this article focuses on whether public reporting of hand washing compliance is helpful or not.  Do we inflate our numbers to make ourselves look better? Public reporting creates an incentive to m... Suture for a Living blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3976526 Thu, 16 Sep 2010 11:15:00 +0100 3976526 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3577435&cid=t_107401_106_f&fid=36682&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FSutureForALiving%2F%7E3%2FKFnVlfb3t-s%2Fplastic-surgeon-knows-best.html I tend to agree with what Dr. Robert Goldwyn had to say in this essay from his book “The Operative Note: Collected Editorials” (published in August 1992).    The Plastic Surgeon Knows Best:  A Hazardous Assumption Two incidents, within four hours, seemingly disparate, were instructive nevertheless.  The first was in the barber shop, where I paid a long overdue visit.  The hair stylist – there are no more barbers left in the world – was a woman, whom I had not seen before.  She was one-half my age and a hundred times as attractive.  She was sitting in her own chair, brushing Lady Godiva length hair muttering that her friend – another “stylist” – had “ruined” her. “She cut too much off,”  she said. My fantasy was that he... Suture for a Living blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3577435 Wed, 19 May 2010 11:01:00 +0100 3577435 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3538134&cid=t_107401_106_f&fid=36682&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FSutureForALiving%2F%7E3%2FZTwjtAz6F8M%2Fgoldwyns-laws-of-plastic-surgery.html Another thoughtful essay from Dr. Robert Goldwyn’s book “The Operative Note: Collected Editorials” (published in August 1992).  I left out the section between the third paragraph and the “plastic surgery laws”  as they were general day to day ones.   Laws of Plastic Surgery We pitiful human beings, born not of our will, are thrust into this world, which throughout our lives we try to comprehend.  To make sense of our existence, we seek the verities; we try to formulate laws of earthly happenstance and human behavior – basic tenets akin to the laws of gravity and energy.  Take, for example, Benjamin Franklin’s fundamental:  “…in this world nothing is certain but death and taxes.”  And closer to our time is the observation of Profess... Suture for a Living blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3538134 Thu, 06 May 2010 11:01:00 +0100 3538134 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3533878&cid=t_107401_106_f&fid=36682&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FSutureForALiving%2F%7E3%2F2Rg4bxVbRR4%2Fwhat-people-think-of-plastic-surgery.html Another thoughtful essay from Dr. Robert Goldwyn’s book “The Operative Note: Collected Editorials” (published in August 1992). What People Think of Plastic Surgery In conjunction with the publication of my book, Beyond Appearance: Reflections of a Plastic Surgeon, I recently was on a number of radio talk shows. Through the wonders of modern communication, I was fortunately able to participate in most of these sessions without having to go to the studio. To relax in bed and to have one’s voice perpetrated on the citizens of Alaska, for example gives one an inkling of how easily those in high political office can abuse their power. To what extent these talk shows influenced the sales of my book I really do not know. But what I did learn was what many people are thinking about... Suture for a Living blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3533878 Wed, 05 May 2010 11:01:00 +0100 3533878 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3511565&cid=t_107401_106_f&fid=36682&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FSutureForALiving%2F%7E3%2Fs5oSkzk5TjQ%2Fknowledge-what-kind-and-how-much.html Here is a second essay from Dr. Robert Goldwyn’s book “The Operative Note:  Collected Editorials” (published in August 1992).   Knowledge:  What Kind and How Much? A few years ago, when my daughter was a high school sophomore, she asked me to help her prepare for a biology quiz.  She was astounded that this paterfamilias, a certified physician, was ignorant of the precise base sequence of DNA-RNA.  In self-defense, I said that most of my colleagues would probably fail her test but were good doctors nevertheless. “but how can they take care of patients properly if they don’t know all about these important nucleic acids?” she asked. “Surprisingly,” I replied, “they do very well.” This incident, aside from revealing my daughter’s knowl... Suture for a Living blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3511565 Wed, 28 Apr 2010 11:01:00 +0100 3511565 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3504942&cid=t_107401_106_f&fid=36682&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FSutureForALiving%2F%7E3%2FdB3bK6nll-c%2Fdr-goldwyns-surgeon.html After learning about Dr. Robert Goldwyn’s death, I pulled out his book “The Operative Note:  Collected Editorials” to reread (published in August 1992).  I’d like to share a few with you over the next weeks/months. The first is entitled “Surgeon” On a recent trip to Hawaii, I learned that in the Polynesian dialect spoken there, the word for surgeon is kauka oki:  doctor (kauka) who cuts (oki).  While some of us surgeons might resent such a graphic, “cut and dry” definition, we cannot deny its verity.  No matter how we may slice it, a surgeon is a doctor who makes incisions.  In fact, the origin of the word surgery is Greek, from cheir, meaning “hand,” and ergon, meaning “work.”  That surgeons work with their hands did not always ... Suture for a Living blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3504942 Mon, 26 Apr 2010 11:01:00 +0100 3504942 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3475873&cid=t_107401_109_f&fid=34750&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpsychcentral.com%2Fblog%2Farchives%2F2010%2F04%2F15%2Fintroducing-writers-mind%2F As an author, have you ever felt blocked by needing to finish another writing project and the creativity is just not flowing? Have you ever pursued an idea and begun writing it, only to find it petering out after awhile, and you don’t know how to get it back on track? Have you ever wondered what made a writer or author tick? Now you’ll have the opportunity to explore answers to these kinds of questions and so much more over at our newest blog, Writer’s Mind by Susan K. Perry. This blog intends to help shed light on the writing experience, sharing wisdom as well as practical advice from successful writers. Whether you’re an amateur or professional writer — or just someone who appreciates good writing as an avid reader — Writer’s Mind will pull back the curtain on ... World of Psychology blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3475873 Thu, 15 Apr 2010 17:38:47 +0100 3475873 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2774594&cid=t_107401_87_f&fid=36050&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.blisstree.com%2Fbreastfeeding123%2Fseptember-carnival-on-breastfeeding-and-working%2F In light of Labor Day in the United States, the September Carnival of Breastfeeding centers on breastfeeding and working. Please email me your post on breastfeeding and working by September 21, 2009, for consideration for the blog carnival on September 28, 2009. Photo of woman working by Ariel da Silva Parreira As a reminder, here are the guidelines that will increase the chances a post will be selected for inclusion in the carnival: – A well-written, grammatically correct post – Thoughtful commentary directly on point for the carnival subject – Overall quality of the rest of your blog and whether the general subject matter is something of interest to our readers (breastfeeding, parenting) If your post is selected for inclusion, you will be asked on the day of the carnival to edit y... Breastfeeding 1-2-3 blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2774594 Tue, 08 Sep 2009 17:36:42 +0100 2774594 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2727093&cid=t_107401_87_f&fid=36050&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.blisstree.com%2Fbreastfeeding123%2Fbreastfeeding-quote-oliver-wendell-holmes%2F Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. was a physician who became a well-regarded American poet in the 19th century. I can tell he was a smart man just by this quote from one of his books: We are willing to give Liebig’s artificial milk when we cannot do better, but we watch the child anxiously whose wet-nurse is a chemist’s pipkin. A pair of substantial mammary glands has the advantage over the two hemispheres of the most learned Professor’s brain, in the art of compounding a nutritious fluid for infants. – Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. (1809-1894), p. 276 of Medical Essays A “pipkin” is a small earthenware boiler, so Holmes was expressing concern about the feeding of babies from a chemist’s cooking pot. Post from: Breastfeeding 1-2-3 (Source: Breastfeeding 1-2... Breastfeeding 1-2-3 blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2727093 Sun, 23 Aug 2009 20:17:43 +0100 2727093 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2210579&cid=t_107401_107_f&fid=35762&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2Fscienceblogs%2Fgrrlscientist%2F%7E3%2FnvNZJrYHkiI%2Fsuccessfully_keeping_celebes_r.php tags: guest blog essay, fishkeeping, aquariums, Celebes Rainbowfish, Celebes Sailfish, Telmatherina ladigesi, pets Adult male Celebes Rainbowfish (also known as a Celebes Sailfish), Telmatherina ladigesi. Image: Orphaned. Please contact me so I can award proper attribution. [larger view]. As most of my readers know, I am an evolutionary biologist and ornithologist by training, and an aviculturist and birder by experience, so imagine my surprise when I was recently asked to write a guest blog essay about fishkeeping for an aquarium hobbyist blog site, The Reef Tank. How the heck did they know I am an avid aquarist? I wondered. But the truth is that before I started keeping and breeding birds, I kept and bred fish (I still keep fish now), and I even was a manager of the fish depar... Living the Scientific Life (Scientist, Interrupted) blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2210579 Sun, 22 Feb 2009 18:59:59 +0100 2210579 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2132521&cid=t_107401_107_f&fid=35762&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2Fscienceblogs%2Fgrrlscientist%2F%7E3%2FWyKWmHNcStM%2Fmy_guest_piece_about_rainbowfi.php tags: Celebes Rainbowfish, Celebes Sailfish, Telmatherina ladigesi, guest blog essay, brackish water fish As you might remember, I have been busily writing guest blog articles (and an article for my column in a print magazine published by the Avicultural Society of America), but one of my "guest blog" essays has just been published for all to read at The Reef Tank. Here is a link to the completed essay, an edited version will be republished here in its entirety in one month (now that I see it published, I wanted to change a few things to make it read better, so those changes have been made to the version I have scheduled to publish here later). Read the comments on this post... (Source: Living the Scientific Life (Scientist, Interrupted)) Living the Scientific Life (Scientist, Interrupted) blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2132521 Sun, 25 Jan 2009 22:07:45 +0100 2132521 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1014907&cid=t_107401_87_f&fid=34816&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.feedburner.com%2F%7Er%2FHonestMedicine%2F%7E3%2F181875833%2Ftimothy-mark-fi.html Many visitors to this site know that it is dedicated to my husband Tim Fisher, who died exactly two years ago today, as a result of complications from a brain tumor, which was first diagnosed in 1990, when Tim was just 40. Had he lived, he would have been 59 this coming March. As I wrote in my article that was published by the National Brain Tumor Foundation, during the 15 years Tim lived as a brain tumor survivor, he was subjected to all varieties of treatments our medical system had to offer -- both good and terrible -- from his one lifesaving surgery to remove the original tumor in 1990, to a succession of subsequent, almost-20 surgeries to correct all sorts of complications that ensued. The complications included non-healing suture lines and hydrocephalus. In addition, he suffered mor... HONEST MEDICINE: My Dream for the Future blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1014907 Thu, 08 Nov 2007 22:58:47 +0100 1014907 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=683294&cid=t_107401_133_f&fid=35096&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.b5media.com%2F%7Er%2Fb5media%2FAutismVox%2F%7E3%2F126128390%2F I used to teach writing and composition to first-year college students. I would often ask students to choose a contraversial topic—-abortion, gay marriage—and analyze how a writer, or two different writers, constructed their argument for or against the issue in question. I no longer teach these sorts of composition courses, but if I did I think I would include “vaccines and autism” on the list of “contraversial topics.” Here are some “mock” essay assignments that I would put on a syllabus if I were to teach such a course: (1) Close Reading Essay Choose one day of testimony from the “vaccine court” held in June of 2006 at the U.S. Court of Claims, in which Theresa and Michael Cedillo claimed that their now-12-year-old daughter, Mic... Autism Vox blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=683294 Tue, 19 Jun 2007 15:58:38 +0100 683294