He died today at his home after quite a struggle with multiple myeloma. Always had great memories of watching his show on Nickelodeon early in the morning. I remember a kid eating an apple upside down and still being able to swallow it. My first introduction to peristalsis and GI physiology.

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Funny rant about the instant message generation and the sad state of American grammar: Med School Does Not A Genius Make :

I’d like to take a moment to voice my complete and utter hatred of USMLE forums. I invariably stumble across these when Googling anything Boards related, and I swear half the people type like they’re 13:

OMG I h8 studyin soooo much,,,,, jusst wannaa go watch a movie! What do u all think the bets movies r ??? LOL I wanna see JoNnY DePp in Pirates.

PS whuts the gene defect in Von Recklinghausen’s?

Sadly, I think I abbreviate just as much in my notes, they’re just more medically accepted terms:

58M c/o SOB, CP 10/10 x3d, – N/V/D +diaphoresis -radiating -exertional, No PMH, no PMD, no meds, no cardiac FHx.

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In two parts.

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Fantastic piece by Matthew Holt on the social insurancers vs the free-marketers.

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How it works in the ER , because it’s all shotgun medicine. Talk with patient, ask questions, feel belly. Most of the time the patient is waiting is either because there are sicker patients, you’re doing a procedure, or you’re playing phone tag or following-up on labs that are pending or didn’t get sent. Great writeup.

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Panda’s point is well-taken : namely, that we will always be discovering some better drug that decreases risk from 2% to 1.5%, even though it costs us a lot more money because it’s new and brand name. I often ask myself if there will ever be an endpoint. But using warfarin is a terrible example. Overall, the number of strokes you prevent with warfarin may in general be more cost effective than not using warfarin , because strokes are so damn expensive to have (and not even counting emotional and psychological costs). Yes, I know this study doesn’t look at warfarin adverse effects, but it’s not as cut and dry as his post makes it seem.

The interesting thing is that without coumadin, the risk of forming an atrial clot is about six percent per year.

(Also, just to be clear, since I’m a junior level Afib researcher, the risk of stroke is about 5-6% per year with Afib, not necessarily the risk of clot formation. And this risk goes up pretty substantially once you hit 75. But then again, so do your risks of falls, as we all have seen too well.)

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Impacted Nurse explains it all. Couldn’t say it better. (via GruntDoc )

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