Welcome CCHSE attendees!

Thanks for coming to my presentation of BOMB! How a (failed) career in standup comedy made me a better surgeon. I look forward to receiving your feedback. Please click here to take the survey. You'll need the password from your souvenir postcard!

This survey closes on Thursday, November 27.

P.S. Got time on your hands? Check out "What's wrong with this picture?"

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Come out swinging on private health care!

In this corner, CMA president Robert Ouellet weighs in on how private health care will improve access for Canadians.

In this corner, former NEJM editor Marcia Angell, takes a swipe at American-style privatization.

Judge's decision: Angell

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Macs rule! But let's not be stupid about it...

The medical community seem to be committed Mac users.  At our recent Departmental Research Day, several presenters made that clear.  But, in a counter-productive way...


The laptop being used for presentations at Research Day was a PC, but several physicians brought their own Mac laptops. Great to see other Mac users promoting the cause, but it turned out to be a distraction. Because they had brought their laptops (rather than just the presentation on a memory stick) there was an annoying delay between presentations while the PC was disconnected from the LCD projector and the Mac was connected.

This was completely unnecessary for some presenters, as they had used PowerPoint on the Mac and could have easily loaded their presentation onto the PC via a memory stick. I do that regularly and the only compatibility issue I have is if I've used pictures from iPhoto without changing their format to a PC-compatible one. I've been burned on that before and so am in the habit of checking such presentations on my office PC.

Other Mac users/presenters were obviously using Keynote, and so couldn't run that program on a PC. I say "obviously using", when perhaps I should say "obtrusively using", i.e. "Hey, I'm using this cool, Mac-only program. Look at these wicked fonts and catchy transitions I can do!" Those bells and whistles are amusing for exactly 2 slides and then they are a distraction from your presentation's message. If that's the only reason you're using Keynote... don't do it. Stick with PowerPoint (on your Mac, of course) and save us the nuisance of switching platforms between presentations.

I admit that I use Keynote for one particular presentation that requires an animation that PowerPoint can't handle. That means I have to take my laptop along whenever I give that presentation. After experiencing the annoyance of several computer changes at Research Day, I'm seriously reconsidering whether that single animation is really worth the grief of lugging a laptop around, rather than just carrying PowerPoint on a memory stick.

Of course, the ultimate solution would be for the AV people to smarten up and start using Mac laptops. As Macs can run either Mac or PC, it makes more sense to be using the more versatile platform.

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HSBC airport ads - Love 'em!

Having schlepped through more than my usual number of airports this month, I've noticed, and enjoyed, HSBC's ads displayed in various walkways.
The ads feature beautifully-photographed images alternately labelled with antonyms, that, well... Check them out for yourself and you'll get the point.

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Wonder words

Long time, no blog. No excuses, just life.

I was reviewing a patient's chart this morning, and several phrases in nursing/physician notes caught my attention: Patient refused breakfast. Patient denies shortness of breath.

If you're a hospital caregiver, you've seen similar stuff written on charts. Wording notes this way makes it sound like patients are our adversaries. Like we're suspicious of what they say and do. Like the little sneaks can't be trusted. (Oh, he denied shortness of breath, but I think we know better. Refused breakfast, did he? Well, we'll just see about that!)

I've also seen people refer to themselves in progress notes as "The writer" rather than saying "I", as in "The writer observed the patient performing self-care", instead of "I watched Mr. Jones perform self-care." What's the reason for that? Is "the writer" somehow more professional and credible? I also wonder why people write "Patient stated" or "Patient verbalized" rather than "Patient said".

And, if you're a patient, don't ever dare to leave the hospital "Against Medical Advice". If that gets written on your chart, you're branded as an uncooperative jerk.

Which you may be.

But, you may also have needed to deal with an urgent personal matter, and your doctor didn't see fit to make ward rounds and write your discharge order at a reasonable time. "Uncooperative jerk" cuts both ways. " Discharged self AMA" sounds like we're running prisons rather than hospitals.

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Welcome SORN attendees!

Thanks for coming to my presentation of BOMB! How a (failed) career in standup comedy made me a better surgeon. I look forward to receiving your feedback. Please click here to take the survey. You'll need the password from your souvenir postcard!

This survey closes on Saturday, September 20.

P.S. Got time on your hands? Check out "What's wrong with this picture?"

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Tom Peters takes on Health Care

Tom Peters (Re-Imagine) is just a little hot about Health Care. Check out his proposed hospital org chart.

He gets it.

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