Rest and Reflect

New Antibiotics for MDRO October 19, 2006

platensimycin — http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/4992696.stm http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v441/n7091/abs/nature04784.html (still in trials)

tigecycline — http://www.tygacil.com/ http://jac.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/full/56/4/611 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tigecycline (now available)

Pre-intern Books October 19, 2006

Here are the books that I found exceptionally useful for Final Year Med. It doesn’t include the Talley & O’Connor, Browse, Kumar & Clark, Tjandra, Oxford Handbook of Clinical Medicine that you should already have (you should also have your basic Anatomy, Physiology, Pathology and Pharmacology texts). They are still useful, but I found myself using them only sparingly.

At this stage, you’re using online resources (McGraw-Hill’s AccessMedicine: Harrison’s and Lange; MDConsult; etc.), journals, reference books, and other sources – esp. senior colleagues. There is a strongly Aussie tilt to my choices. Final year is really all about becoming a doctor, Vivas make you talk like one, Cases make you think like one and On Call helps you act like one.

1. Vivas — Devitt & Barker
2. Cases — Baliga; Talley & O’Connor – Examination Medicine
3. On Call — Oxford Handbook of Acute Medicine

(Note: I’m also an admirer of the Secrets series, but it has less relevance to an intern. For MCQs, can’t go past the AMC’s Annotated MCQs: practice exam here & recalls here.)

Quick Med Advice June 27, 2006

General Thoughts

The most important things:
1. Good general communication skills
2. Common sense
3. History & Examination (Clinical) skills
4. Diagnostic thinking, logical algorithms/systems (when unsure what to do next, do what’s safe and complete)
Only then,
5. Knowledge

No one will ever know everything about everything – or even a lot about most things. Aim as a student to know a little about a lot (quantity over quality). Then as you increase in knowledge (intern/resident) aim to major in the majors, not in the minors. (Don’t try to be a smart alec and know obscure or controversial things when you don’t really completely understand the important basics). Even specialists only know a lot about a few things. Like I said, it is impossible to know a lot about a lot.

When making notes, bullet points are tempting and easy to do – but they are rarely the way a doctor thinks and are not really that helpful as notes. They fool you into thinking you’ve summarised – but you haven’t really. They make you think you know (and have thought through) quite a lot – but that’s not true either. Although they look helpful and easy to learn from, it is actually as difficult as trying to remember a shopping list. Categories are almost as useless.

What to do:
Get to know a lot of people and develop relationships and friendships. You learn much more by:
1. Asking/Talking/Discussing with people — learning from their advice and knowledge
2. Getting involved
3. Observing and thinking

Don’t
1. Say a lot without saying much at all
2. Bullshit
3. Uh ah? Would i? I’m not sure.
4. I don’t know (you always know something, tell me what you know, and tell me what you can work out, then i’ll ask a question prompt to help you, after that you can say you don’t know)

Do
1. Think logically — make educated guesses
2. Explain your thinking
3. Speak confidently
4. Listen when the examiner is talking

If you can talk intelligently on a topic for 5 minutes, you know enough.

Read for understanding, don’t expect to remember what you read. Talking to people will help you consolidate what you need to remember.

Bruce Marchiano in The Visual Bible: Matthew June 23, 2006

Matthew http://orders.koorong.com.au/search/details.jhtml?code=1889710490&printable=true
In the footsteps of Jesus http://www.adventistmedia.com.au/c4.php?star=MTAy&productid=26
Marchiano Ministries http://www.brucemarchiano.com/
Who Is Jesus (Canada) http://web.archive.org/web/20050306032532/www.whoisjesuscanada.ca/visualbible.htm
Try Jesus http://www.tryjesus.com.au/

Virtualis June 15, 2006

http://www.visualsunlimited.com/checkauth.jsp?key=vu_medicine&type=and
http://vitualis.wordpress.com/
http://vitualis.blogspot.com/

Database Menu April 9, 2006

.wwwproxy0.nun.unsw.edu.au
http://wwwproxy0.nun.unsw.edu.au/menu
AccessMedicine (McGraw-Hill)
MIMS
Therapeutic Guidelines
MDConsult
STATref
Elsevier ScienceDirect
Metapress
Sirius
PubMed
Australian Guidelines
NSW Health Guidelines
QLD Consent Forms
NSW Infectious Diseases
CIAP
Micromedex