Docnotes

Motivated my Dave Winer's new

Motivated my Dave Winer's new weblog directory, I've moved the docnotes stuff up to the docnotes server.  It's a static site for now, so no search engine (yet).  When I started this "weblog" in1999, I used blogger.  I still don't have all of the blogger posts migrated into radio .. but I've almost got them in.  Conversant was my next tool, which I (mostly) liked, but I found the user interface confusing and I never quite clicked with it.  I'm a physician, not a rocket scientist!   I really liked the fact that conversant had a search engine though.  Now macrobyte has released a search engine for radio .. and this looks like it'll give me exactly what I need.   

Only problem is that the server you're reading this on isn't running radio .. and it's already running quite a lot (IIS, Coldfusion, mdaemon, SQLServer, and simpleDNSPlus).  It's our only server for oncalls.com at the moment .. and obviously takes care of many tasks.  We're shopping for another server .. and once we get that up, we'll  probably put a copy of radio and RCS up there.   For now, Docntoes will be static.

Extending Life, Defibrillators Can Prolong

Extending Life, Defibrillators Can Prolong Misery: "Extending Life, Defibrillators Can Prolong Misery"

Psychologists Get Prescription Pads and

Psychologists Get Prescription Pads and Furor Erupts: "And she noted that a majority of prescriptions for psychiatric drugs nationwide were written by primary care physicians, not psychiatrists."

I've started looking at the

I've started looking at the NY Times health notes ever since they're included in Radio.  Some very good things there .. like this ..

Yeast Infection: The Pitfalls of Self-Diagnosis. Only a third of the women buying over-the-counter vaginal antifungal products accurately self-diagnose their conditions. By Jane E. Brody. [New York Times: Health]

Bring on Berton Rouche: Cause

Bring on Berton Rouche:    Cause and Effect: Lessons From a Poisoned Coffeepot. Workers in an auto factory in the Midwest were hospitalized with thallium poisoning from a communal coffeepot. By John O'neil. [New York Times: Health]

Doctors Face a Big Jump

Doctors Face a Big Jump in Insurance. Doctors in the New York area face sharp increases in their medical malpractice insurance costs, which are already among the highest in the country. By Joseph B. Treaster. [New York Times: Health]

This one seems to apply to New York City more than it odes to our region, but the trend is ominous

Diagnosis: Supersize. Despite what experts

Diagnosis: Supersize. Despite what experts call an "epidemic" of obesity, fast-food outlets are sprouting up in schools and hospitals. By Howard Markel. [New York Times: Health]  This appears to be a uniquely American phenomenon .. and one which has progressed unabated for years and years.  Hard to know what the next step to resolution is...

 

The Winona project: Developing an

The Winona project: Developing an electronic link ... American Medical News  A good look at the real status of the bleeding edge of health technology

 

Circumcision

Another long night .. two more deliveries .. man, I am feeling like an obstetrician! ... This morning I had a long talk with two new parents about circumcision.

It's a challenging decision these days .. as the (mis)information about this procedure propagates across the internet .. both for the procedure and against it.  Even "unbiased" resources like "dr Spock" come down on one side or the other .. and the usually excellent patient education materials from the AAFP are just so-so .. and the AAFP's recently released policy statement reviews some of the literature, but actually says very little.

Missing from most discussions is an ethical component.  As a physician, I take an oath to assist my patients' healing .. not perform what may be a cosmetic surgery.  If done for religious reasons, perhaps we should call the rabbi instead.  And as one who facilitates health and healing, I don't want to perform what may very well be unnecessary surgery on a person who cannot make a decision for themselves!

.. and I don't buy the "I want him to look like me" bit I hear from fathers sometimes.  They look different.  Period.  Big ones and small ones and fat ones and thin ones.  They are all different .. and a circumcision isn't going to change a kid's relationship with his dad either way.

In the end, the couple from this morning are going to think about it for another week ...

Hmm .. something's not working.

Hmm .. something's not working.

I changed my community server .. and RCS tells me "congrats" .. but when I edit the weblog .. it still goes to radio.userland and "home" on the radio home page still points to the userland cloud .. not mine ..