Complications

As I started reading Atul Gawande's Complications: A Surgeon's Notes on an Imperfect Science, my first reaction was Nooooo! Don't give away the secrets!

When relating his first attempts at an invasive procedure (central venous catheter insertion), Gawande is so frank about his uncertainty and shortcomings, that it made me squirm to recall my own similar experiences.

All physicians gain experience through practice - on real, live patients. This practice, during residency, is supervised by senior attending physicians. However, as Gawande points out, the degree and proximity of supervision varies according to circumstance.

How do we balance being honest about our level of expertise against wanting to spare patients unnecessary anxiety? How can residents learn a new procedure if they don't perform it on a patient?

Gawande explores these questions with astonishing openness. Plus, he's a great storyteller. His story of the failed tracheostomy (lost airway, anyone?) made me cringe.

Non-physicians read this book at your own peril. You may dispel the myth of the infallible surgeon.

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RateMDs lawsuit

An Edmonton urologist has slapped RateMDs with a $12M lawsuit. Apparently he was upset about the "bad publicity" from his RateMDs page.

Talk about counterproductive. Now he's got that "bad publicity" all over the papers.

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I blog, therefore I am

"Friends tell me that I will take naturally to blogging because I am in possession of many poorly considered opinions about issues I understand only marginally."

A wry take on blogging, at The Atlantic.

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Crash and Learn II

Some more ideas from Crash and Learn by Jim Smith Jr.

Chapter 2 - Room Setup Mistakes

My first inclination was to skip this chapter. After all, in most cases, I don't have much say in how a room is set up.

Or maybe it doesn't matter to me how the room is setup, as long as everyone is facing the front and can see me.

Or maybe I'm not aware of the recent breakthroughs (there must be some!) in room-setup theory that optimize audience experience.

It's a brief chapter, but Smith has a couple of suggestions that would be a departure from the traditional medical lecture setting:

Have a brief, content-related activity waiting for the participants when they enter the room

Play music (!)

My three top mistakes are:

1. Not having an activity to engage my audience as soon as they enter the room

2. Not playing music (!)

3. Letting the room get too hot

My action steps to correct these mistakes are:

1. Create a "Welcome" slideshow. Maybe something like the clips that play in movie theatres before the previews start - trivia questions, short cartoons, etc.

2. Play music (Need those portable speakers!)

3. Check out the thermostat before starting. Asking someone in the room to be in charge of opening a door or window if it does become too hot.

I'm committed to correcting these mistakes because:

1. Having the audience focused on an activity will make it easier to get their attention when I want to start speaking.

2. Music might be a way to get the audience's energy up if the presentation is late in the day.

3. Audiences can't concentrate if they are physically uncomfortable. They will be thinking about their discomfort rather than the message of my talk.

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