Denialism

Category: Medical Education

  • Pediatrics

    —

    by

    MarkH
    in

    I’ve been busy, as you might imagine, with work, study, and applying for medical residency. However, I thought it was about time to get people up to date with some of the clerkships I’ve finished in the meantime before letting you guys in on some of the decision-making processes involved in choosing a residency. So,…

  • Medical professionalism, or WE ARE YOUR GODS, BOW BEFORE US

    —

    by

    MarkH
    in ,

    One of our sciblings, Dr. Signout, is learning the ropes as she struggles (and presumably excels) through her medical residency. As her writing has picked back up, she has brought up some important questions about medical education and medical professionalism. I’m a little further along in my career than she, and I have some thoughts…

  • Some days it’s harder

    —

    by

    MarkH
    in , ,

    I’m a little down today. I’ve told you before that I take care of my own patients in hospice. I’ve also told you about watching patients and friends lose their battles with disease. This week I had serious talks with several people about end-of-life issues (the details of which I can’t really share at the…

  • Putting the Rose to Bed

    —

    by

    Chris
    in

    Okay, as Denialism’s lawyer, let me get to the issue of the rose tattoo. A medical procedure is a battery. Patients consent to it, thus allowing the doctor to engage in even invasive touching without liability for the battery. The scope of consent is key, however. Many individuals have a rough sense of consent; they…

  • Scene II, in which I clarify my previous statement

    —

    by

    MarkH
    in

    My Scibling DrugMonkey brought up a half-valid point. The half that was valid was that none of the medical bloggers spoke out about the surgeon who assaulted a patient. The half that was insane was where this is used as further evidence that doctors are arrogant pricks. Based on this comment and those of the…

  • Why am I hearing this nonsense from a scienceblogger?

    —

    by

    MarkH
    in

    Who wrote this? As someone who spends a substantial portion of his professional time teaching medical students, I can tell you that this kind of attitude-that physicians are gods, not mere mortals, and wield power over other human beings that no one dare question-is inculcated in them from the very beginning of medical training. It…

  • Scene I, in which I defend my profession

    —

    by

    MarkH
    in

    Our Scibling PhysioProf has launched the opening salvo in what may turn out to be a rather bloody flame war. In the interest of actually gaining something from this other than venting my own anger and frustration, I will beg your indulgence here as I explain why my colleague is so utterly misguided.

  • Medical Education—service vs. education

    —

    by

    MarkH
    in

    Teaching new doctors is an interesting process. Much has been done over the last ten years to improve the way we teach new doctors. Medical residents still work very hard, but there are strict rules on work hours and other “service” duties that can interfere with education and safety. One of the issues that often…

  • On being a doctor—humility and confidence

    —

    by

    MarkH
    in ,

    The practice of medicine requires a careful mix of humility and confidence. Finding this balance is very tricky, as humility can become halting indecision and confidence can become reckless arrogance. Teaching these traits is a combination of drawing out a young doctor’s natural strengths, tamping down their weaknesses, and tossing in some didactic knowledge. I…

  • Adventures in staffing—a new physician

    —

    by

    MarkH
    in ,

    When a resident of student presents a patient with me and I help them formulate a plan, we call it “staffing” the case. Recently while I was staffing, I was presented with a patient who speaks little English, but speaks another language fluently. Unfortunately for us, this language wasn’t Urdu, Spanish, French, Romanian, or Hindi…