great post - i agree 100%
Surgery is great for old adages. One that I remember from an instructor at USC was this: The first half of a surgeon's career is learning how to operate. The second half is learning WHEN to operate.
That was a great post. The puckering and all. I loved it.
Now, how do I get my surgeon consultants to order pharmacological VTE prophylaxis on our patients?
VTE prophylaxis is just plain old common sense and good patient care. Surprisingly, it is not one of the quality indicators that CMS is targeting.
Actually, I think VTE prophylaxis is part of the SCIP (surgical care improvment program) requirements I'm sure you have heard of, and will, I believe, as of later this year be part of the determination for 2% bonus payments to hospitals. It's here, now.
I realize that this comment is somewhat off-topic, but I'm concerned about SWIMBO. Now, I am familiar with the song Venus by Bananarama, and you may be familiar with it too. The lyrics go something like, "I'm your Venus, I'm your fire, your desire etc. etc.". Now as far as I can tell, from carefully examining your graphical image of her, SWIMBO is on fire. Specifically her lower two-thirds, give or take a few inches.
I'm just saying that I'm a little concerned about SWIMBO. I'm hoping the graphical image is meant as a metaphor or a symbol or something like that. Because I can only assume that as a trauma surgeon, you are familiar with the downside of non-metaphorical, non-symbolic burns.
just sign me,
Worried About SWIMBO.
It's expected from surgeons, a little meticulous, O-C behavior. We feel safer with docs who aren't thinking about golf, although maybe they're not mutually exclusive.
congrats on being mentioned:
http://www.npr.org/templates/
sto...toryId=88163567
So I took one of the recommended anal retentive measurement quizzes, and now I have two questions: what is the cut off score to be a general surgeon? And, what if I don't WANT to be a general surgeon, but I scored as high as 99% of others of my gender and age? I'm worried that 99% is above the cut-off. Is the cut-off 99.5%, by any chance?
(Also, does the fact that I'm splitting the hair between 99% and 99.5% mean that as far as my level of anal-retentiveness goes: I AM - and I just need to accept that? And I also am trying not to worry too much about the fact that I have now asked 3 questions, technically.)
Sign me,
Sorry That I Tried The Stupid Quiz.
OK, I've been thinking again.
It's not so much that being anal-retentive inherently bothers me, it's the fact that being anal-retentive is so often considered a NEGATIVE that bothers me. I mean, perhaps someone could ask SWIMBO whether she prefers to be on fire. I mean, if she considers it a positive, Richter would be out of line to throw water on her. It's the same general idea.
So, what are the positives of being anal retentive? (For those of us who are not general surgeons?) Anybody? Anybody?
Just at the moment I can't think of any, but perhaps other Gentle Readers, or even the Aggravated One himself, may be more quick witted.
Richter, Richter, Richter. Time for a martini! I appreciate your concern about SWIMBO, but trust me, as all women have a touch of the devil himself inside them, the flames are a mere nuisance, nothing more. As far as anal retentiveness is concerned, it does appear that you may have crossed that invisible line --- well, maybe the Mississippi river --- into OCD territory. So, remember, two shots of Hendricks into a chilled martini glass, wave the vermouth in its general vicinity, two very plump olives, and add a dash of olive juice. You'll be feeling better in no time.
Thanks Jeff for letting me know about the mention --- I haven't listened to Pravda NPR in years, so I hadn't heard about it. Sounds like they don't like the idea of surgeons of enjoying their work --- they didn't like that I said some surgeries are "fun." Fuddy Duddies, I'd say!
Doc Surg, folks want to know. Are you one of the MDs who can't wait for Gummint Health care? And if so, why?
http://tinyurl.com/2fn6uj
Oh, gee Rodge, there are statistics and then there are outright distortions and lies. This study is squarely positioned among the lies and distortions. When you start with a questionnaire mailed only to AMA members, you are already getting a pretty biased result heavily weighted to the left. The last time I wrote about this, the AMA represented only about 28% of US physicians. Couple that with the fact that they only got a 51% response rate, and you have basically not a good representative sample, but one that would not pass muster in any scientific review. You can read more about this here.
To put it another way, this "study" is about as reliable as a Dan Rather investigation into presidential politics or an MSNBC presidential poll. And, for the record, I believe a nationalized healthcare system in the US would be an unmitigated disaster.
The flames are a mere nuisance????
Are you SURE about that?
Richter, as you may be aware, refers to the scale used to measure the force of an earthquake. The higher the number on the scale, the more powerful and devastating the earthquake. It is a logarithmic scale, so each point is an exponential increase over the previous. Now, Richter would be the last to minimize a significant earthquake as a mere nuisance. Richter suspects that neither flame nor earthquake are a mere nuisance, as both are a force of nature. Did New Orleans find that memorable hurricane season to be a mere nuisance? Well, did they?
At very least, Richter would like to suggest upgrading the flames from a mere nuisance to an actual nuisance, or perhaps even an angering nuisance.
DEAR RICHTER, DON'T WORRY ABOUT ME, ITS JUST A ROCKY MOUNTAIN SUNTAN. WHAT IS REALLY SMOKIN IS THE CREDIT CARD!!!
Heh. SWIMBO, I reminds me of a good one.
So, a wife was hinting around about what she wanted for her birthday... she asked for "something" that would go from 0 to 200 in 5 seconds. (Her doctor was thinking "scale"), she was wishing "sports car", and her husband was fearing "credit card".
This is absolutely true, so much so its the main reason I had to bail on surgery after my intern year at Rush and Cook County. Speaking of County, talk about a tight sphincter, jesus those folks were sick you couldn't miss ANYTHING but you were always with incomplete or flat out WRONG information. Great Blog!!
savvydoc.wordpress.com
Well, Richter is obviously not overly OCD. Not only did Richter not notice that there were two(2) quizzes, but when Richter took the second, Richter was only categorized as "mildly OCD, pretty much like anyone else". whew.
Now Richter feels better. Richter is much less aGGRAVATED about OCD, SWIMBO, and the possible downsides of both.
Out of concern for my mental health, and for mental health in general, I have been researching the symptoms of OCD.
In the wikipedia article it says:
Symptoms may include some, all, or perhaps none of the following:
Repeated hand washing
Repeated hand washing! No wonder general surgeons have OCD! I'd like to congratulate you!
Also, think about it this way. While repeated hand washing may give you OCD, not washing your hands may spread germs. Them's the choices - either a rock or a hard place.
Actually, depending on the location of your rock, Citrucel may be an out. Could be a third option.
So, if I'm still worried about my OCD, and a martini is out as treatment since I don't drink, and Citrucel is more of a metaphor than anything, really, at least it is not usually used to treat OCD, what would the Aggravated One recommend?
Doc ... You've been appointed Surgeon General!
Honored, sir, truly honored! Hopefully, I'll make a better one than Jocelyn Elders. Thanks for the raise in my pay grade, Rodge!
tee hee
Also, I like your lipstick. What brand and shade is it, if you don't mind me asking? (I am referring to the lipstick on the pucker - I'm assuming that is cropped from a self-portrait?)
Ah, no lipstick for me --- just a hefty amount of gray bushy hair on my upper lip.
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