It recently came to my attention that the UK has been deploying a public health message with regards to ER wait times; more specifically, it looks like a public education campaign aimed at redirecting “inappropriate” visits away from emergency rooms. The premise is that many minor and non-life-threatening conditions can be (and should be) treated outside the ER, and that the onus is on the patients themselves to basically triage their own ailments. …
Injecting into the Carpal Tunnel
It’s been awesome working in the ED with the benefit of the knowledge gained on off-service rotations in specialties like Plastic and Orthopedic Surgery. Great learning experiences on these rotations have led to a run of success with injections into all sorts of places and have given me a desire to inject into… well… most things that there is evidence for treating with needles. Recently I’ve treated a carpal tunnel syndrome (median nerve …
The case for Healthcare Workers to get mandatory flu shots.
It is a very interesting social phenomenon how some healthcare workers have come to put up such an emotionally charged and adamant fight against getting vaccinated. This issue reached a head with the recent battle in British Columbia over trying to make it mandatory for frontline nurses to get the flu shot. I call this a “social phenomenon” because the surprising resistance is exponentially spurred by forces beyond any solid scientific evidence, despite …
The Reference Letter Triple Crown
Interviews for the Canadian Residency Matching Service (CaRMS) are over and they were as difficult as ever. One thing nobody appreciates on the medical student side of the CaRMS equation is how difficult it is for the programs to come up with our rank list. The applicants this year were spectacular and ranking them was more difficult than splitting hairs. Fortunately, the depth of the applicants makes us confident that we will be …
A Review of Systematic Reviews
Dr. Wikipedia said that:“An understanding of systematic reviews and how to implement them in practice is becoming mandatory for all professionals involved in the delivery of health care.” And to me, the word of Wikipedia is the next best thing to the word of Weingart. As usual, I think Dr. Wikipedia is correct. Systematic reviews are where a lot of the evidence-based medicine that we aspire to practice is consolidated, and we require …
How much does a doctor make a year? You’re asking the wrong question.
Okay, enough already. It seems like the media’s flavor of the week is focused on determining what a doctor’s annual income is, and whether that magical guess-timation is too high or too low. The underlying assumptions driving this hunt include: 1)coming up with an average annual income (gross/net) would somehow be reflective of individual physician practices or be meaningful in any shape or form, and 2)even if the previous assumption is correct, that …