What is poor patient care?

This morning as I was reading the news I came across this article. Reading the article I was shocked, not because taping a babies dummy is shocking but because someone thinks it is newsworthy. Appearing fourth on the list of BBC health articles. The article doesn't give the full story, it briefly states that the dummy was taped on and then goes on to give a list of apologies. The problem is they didn't clarify the circumstances, there are cases when taping a dummy on could be in the interest of patient care. 

Ward rounds - a survival guide

Surviving a long ward round can be tough, especially as a medical student. You are expected to stand there drinking in every detail of what is going on and at any given instance be able to recite the full textbook entry for any given disease.  I remember doing my very first ward round during my work experience in sixth form, not knowing what to expect. After 4 hours of trudging round the hospital, understanding very little, we ended up in a warm stuffy room and that was when I started to wobble. I somehow managed to stop myself from fainting completely and one of the junior doctors took me outside, sat me down and gave me a glass of water. I will never forget how embarrassed I felt at that moment.

Healthcare, who should pay?

With the sweeping NHS reforms, the question of who should pay for our healthcare is being asked. Along with public health campaigns this has been fuelling the debate as to whether people who make themselves ill should pay for their healthcare. There is a compelling argument for those who believe that if your actions damage your health then you should foot the bill for the consequences. With reports suggesting that societies three greatest vices are costing 16bn/yr; smoking costs the NHS £5bn/yr, alcohol costing £6bn/yr and obesity costing another £5bn/yr. This accounts for about 15% of the £106bn budget, I have to say I do question the sources of these figures but it gives a rough idea. One of the big problems is establishing cause and effect, smoking is an interesting example where cause and effect are clearly linked but are grey around the edges. 

Revision Tips: Disconnecting

This may sound really simple but some of my most productive time is spent when I am disconnected. I don't just mean disconnected from the Internet, I mean pull out those headphones find a quiet place where no one will come and distract you and get to work. This may sound simple but time after time my friends come back from late night library sessions and when I enquire as to how it went, they tell me all about the latest gossip and how many funny YouTube videos they watched.

The Feedback Revolution

My upcoming exam results reminded me that I had intended to write this article, so here it is.

The day after my exams I received an email entitled 'URGENT: final deadline for outstanding forms today' and in my hungover state thought that I had forgotten something really important. Upon fishing my laptop out from under last nights clothes and getting to the medical school website I discovered that this urgent form which was important enough to get me out of bed on a hangover day was I'm fact a fifty question feedback form. I duly shut my laptop down and let the room get back to spinning around me. So if my medical school are reading this then sorry I didn't fill the form in, but I would have spoiled the results of the five people who were conscientious enough to fill the form in by putting zero for everything.  

Public Health: Irresponsible Advertising

This morning I was shocked and appalled. I was browsing my local councils website and saw an advertisement below what I was reading. I decided to click through to the health and well being page to see if the advert was still present, and there it was right before my eyes:

Back to work

Evening all and happy New Year. I've just done my first day of a six week paediatric rotation, hopefully should give me inspiration for plenty of interesting articles. I also managed to write two articles whilst on the train back so they just need reviewing before I publish them. One is on public health and the other is a few of my thoughts on the NHS reforms. After almost three weeks I feel the blog is finally on its feet, with the number of visitors increasing daily. So one of my New Years resolutions is to write a new article every week, but if I see a lot of interesting cases I may write more. My other resolution is to exercise more, but I know that features on a lot of people's lists.

What are your New Years resolutions? Like my page on Facebook if you haven't already, I'll keep that updated every time I publish a new post. Or if you'd rather use email there is a mailing list sign up at the bottom of the home page.