Great summary and commentary from Dr Robert Centor. I didn’t know what to make of the new statin guidelines; it’s not a particular area I’m interested in or have extensive education. However, given its prominence in the news and relevance to family members, I need to know something about it. I think this post from Dr Centor is the best place to start.
Four things we learned at EHI Live | MedCrunch →
Interesting thoughts from MedCrunch on EHI Live–the UK’s national event for health IT. I find point #3–Interoperability is this year’s magic word–particularly interesting. I wonder if we will ever have true interoperability in health care. If we do have true interoperability, will it be as easy for me to change EMRs as it is for me to switch between Chrome, Safari, Firefox, and Opera? That is the EMR future I am looking forward to.
"The E. coli made me do it" | New Yorker →
The microbiome is incredibly fascinating. It seems the death of infectious diseases was more exaggerated than we ever thought before [1, 2].
Letting Medical Students Run the Clinic | The Atlantic →
Great examination of the student-run clinic. However, this article makes it seem like the students are running wild with only the distant oversight from the supervising physicians. In all of my experiences [1], there is strict oversight with the supervising physician always going in after the medical student to visit with the patient and conduct their own relevant exam. I am biased (of course) but I believe student-run clinics provide a valuable service to the community and benefit the medical students who participate in them, both in terms of clinical learning and exposure to health disparities.
-
For anyone interested, the University of Kansas medical students run the JayDoc Free Clinic. ↩
Graduating Pharmacy Students’ Perspectives on E-Professionalism and Social Media | Am J Pharm Educ →
Conclusion from the abstract:
Many graduating pharmacy students use social media; however, there appears to be a growing awareness of the importance of presenting a more professional image online as they near graduation and begin seeking employment as pharmacists.
Anecdotally, I can say the same for medical students. The vast majority of my classmates seem to change their Facebook name to some weird alias when residency interview season rolls around. However, as someone who has worked hard to cultivate a positive online presence and never been asked about it in an interview, I truly wonder how many programs are looking at candidates online.
Medical School at $278,000 Means Even Bernanke Son Has Debt | Bloomberg →
Janet Lorin writing for Bloomberg:
The median education debt for 2012 medical-school graduates was $170,000, including loans taken out for undergraduate studies and excluding interest. That compares with an average $13,469 in 1978…[or] about $48,000 in today’s dollars.
Educational debt, where med school debt is but one type, is a problem we need to face now. This year, due to the sequestration, all subsidized loans (i.e.—the government pays the interest while in school) for graduate students was cut. This means that medical students in their first year are being charged interest from the day the loan is dispersed. Should medical students start taking part-time jobs or work-study assistance?
We (medical students) understand loans are part of the deal, but the deal has gotten so bad that it is becoming untenable.