Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Ouck FChem

I have yet to hear a logical argument as too why I have to take organic chemistry to be a good physician. The pre-med requirements don't even require anatomy...which is something that I would actually use on a daily basis.

Case in point. My mentor has a graduate degree in organic chemistry. He says it was the most pointless piece of bullshit he's ever undertaken. No medical school student I've meet (and I teach them, I've meet quite a few) has claimed that Organic Chemistry has helped them at all in any class.

As a final piece of argument I cut and pasted multiple questions from my honors physiology, honors anatomy (two classes... our college doesn't do the BS combined crap), general chemistry, organic chemistry, and physics classes into an exam and had 20 medical school students, residents, and attendings I know take it for fun. These are folks who are in the top of their class, chief residents in internal medicine, and residency directors in multiple fields (oncology, radiology, surgery) respectively.

The questions they got right were all from the Physiology and Anatomy sections.
Not a single person answered a general chemistry, organic chemistry, or physics question right.

Hence, it is proven that you need none of this bull shit to practice medicine. Want us to prove* we're intelligent? Have us take something that matters.

*Intelligence is not an A in Ochem.... which is no way proves you will be a good doctor.

Friday, March 27, 2009

Power Point Hell...

I teach A LOT of classes. From advanced first aid to Basic and Advanced Wilderness Life Support to a 4th year medical school student rotation.

While I like to spend as little time in a classroom and as much time outdoors as possible (that's where you learn it all anyway) some lecture time is a necessity. This often means power point and
I
Hate
Powerpoint

At least most of the ones I have to sit through as a student. The slides have too much info on them, they're boring and when the professor just reads off them I wonder why I even came to class.

I'd rather make mine, simple, to the point and interesting. This may be my favorite site to help with the last aspect:
Free Medicine PowerPoint Templates

I'm teaching a diabetes lecture tomorrow, I think I'll use this one:

Thursday, March 26, 2009

Struggling

I've been struggling with what I want to write on here.

I'd love to recount stories of SAR callouts, and I have for some one the more interesting ones, but I've found that for the most part 90% of them follow the same basic outline:

-Hiker/Skier/Snowmobiler is TLS (Tired/Lonely (or lost)/Scared) and calls us
-We usually have a good idea where he/she is
-We hike in
-We hike them out (yes, if they can hike out they weren't that hurt in the first place...)

There have been some interesting ones but they've been few and far between (and I've written about most of them).

So, what should I write about? I'd love to talk some about how I see technology helping and hurting our search and rescue team. Or, even the general attitudes in EMS and medicine. Any other ideas?

Sunday, March 15, 2009

Fuck it all

My parents are some of the healthiest people in their mid fifties I've ever meet. Between the two of them they've:
  • Ridden bikes from one side of our home state to the other
  • Kayaked the ENTIRE Missouri river from Montana to St. Louis
  • Hiked the entire Ozark Trail
  • Spent weeks in Banff, Yellowstone, Glacier, Zion, Arches, Colorado, and god knows how many other places backpacking
They eat right, sleep lots, exercise a ton (in a healthy, no obsessive way), and live outside the city.

And in the past six months they've both been diagnosed with cancer.
What
The
Fuck