http://BadMedicine.quiblit.com If it fees good do it. Tue, 29 Jul 2008 04:22:12 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en I have, apparently, had a comment (innocuous, I thought) deleted at Catron's site. He's up in arms over a piece in Slate by Jesse Pines and Zach Meisel* that suggests that hospital administrators have a financial incentive to bed insured patients coming from clinics over uninsured ED walk-ins, and ... http://BadMedicine.quiblit.com/index.php/2008/07/26/do-ceos-respond-to-incentives-the-shocking-shocking-truth/ Borges thought it a fantastic nightmare, but it turns out that a perfect autobiographical memory just nets you second place on Jeopardy and an inability to forget family vacations. http://BadMedicine.quiblit.com/index.php/2008/05/17/brad-the-memorious/ I'm off to sub-Saharan Africa tomorrow to practice medicine in a way they'd never let me do here in the states (uh, until next month). I may try to write something about it here and there, but there are probably better blogs out there for that kind of stuff ... http://BadMedicine.quiblit.com/index.php/2008/04/03/fun-with-disenfranchisement/ There's uproar amongst opponents of single payer health care over a recent survey published in the Annals of Internal Medicine (letters section, thus avoiding peer review) suggesting that a majority of doctors (59%) support "universal health care." Critics point out, rightly, that the survey (which consisted of two relatively ... http://BadMedicine.quiblit.com/index.php/2008/04/03/pot-kettle-moo/ If you're wondering where I've been, you must be an odd and lonely person. Anyways, taking my last test before graduation next month, then flying off to darkest Africa to play doctor one last time before, uh, the real thing. Oh, and I find out where I'm going ... http://BadMedicine.quiblit.com/index.php/2008/03/18/i-have-an-ulcer/ This video is pretty neat. Found through TGGP. http://BadMedicine.quiblit.com/index.php/2008/02/10/the-blind-watchmaker/ The progress of medical science is plagued with embarassment. Recently, the intensive blood-sugar lowering arm of the ACCORD trial was halted due to an increase in mortality, primarily cardiovascular. Prior to that, Avandia, a commonly used oral hypoglycemic, was temporarily pulled from the market after it, too, was ... http://BadMedicine.quiblit.com/index.php/2008/02/08/clinical-trials-prediction-markets/ Finally getting around to reading Prescription for a Healthy Nation by Tom Farley and Deborah Cohen. The first chapter details how we overspend on healthcare, while confusing ourselves that we are spending on health. The two are not synonymous, as many, many, many others make clear. Farley ... http://BadMedicine.quiblit.com/index.php/2008/01/29/hard-to-hear-facts/ Over at medrants, DB asks how we can improve the learning climate in teaching hospitals. I suspect this crap is not what he had in mind. Spillover at KevinMD, where I get into things old-school fray style, even (hi Dawn, and a hat tip to Moloch). ... http://BadMedicine.quiblit.com/index.php/2008/01/22/one-two-three-four/ I admit a morbid fascination with this type of injury. The idea that someone could shove a reasonably sized foreign object into their own brain, with massive bleeding but no external trauma, seems just . . . bizarre. Here's this week's New England Journal image of the week, ... http://BadMedicine.quiblit.com/index.php/2008/01/21/penetrating-orbital-trauma/