Archive for January, 2011

The 2011 Surgery Journal Prize

Tuesday, January 25th, 2011

Surgery presents… The launch of the 2011 Surgery Journal Prize

You could win £500 worth of books and journal subscriptions plus the chance to have your work published!

The journal Surgery announces the launch of the 2011 Surgery Journal Prize and invites papers on the topic of: ‘The impact of subspecialisation on training and the provision of emergency surgical services’

Submissions are open to all medical undergraduate students within UK medical schools. The paper must be no longer than 3000 words and can contain supporting graphics and data if required. The papers will be judged by a panel of three assessors, chosen from the Editorial Board of the journal Surgery. Their decision
is final. The submission deadline is 31st March 2011.

Please visit www.surgeryjournal.co.uk for more information and to enter.

The winner will receive £500 worth of books and journal subscriptions from ElsevierHealth.co.uk. The winning entry will be published in Surgery, so this is an ideal opportunity to add a published article to your portfolio. PLUS the winner will be invited to a presentation by the Editorial Board’s judging panel later in the year. There will also be two runners-up prizes: £250 worth of books and journal subscriptions from ElsevierHealth.co.uk.

Good luck!

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Booze calculator

Tuesday, January 25th, 2011
Taking a history is notoriously more difficult in some patients than others. Also, some topics are harder to find out accurate information than others. One of these is a drinking history. A glass of wine at home to one person might be 250ml and another 500ml. People consistently underestimate how much they drink. The BBC are hosting on their website a booze calculator which aims to provide an easy way of quantifying the costs of drinking. Factors such as gender and tipple of choice inform the algorithm. Some of the alcohol prices seem a bit steep for someone who lives outside the M25. Also, it is on the Newsbeat part of the website as a resource which is aimed at younger people. However, this still might be a useful way of getting people to think about how much they are drinking as alcohol excess continues to burden the health system both in the UK and internationally.

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Open Source Epidemiological Statistics

Monday, January 17th, 2011
The phrase ‘evidence-based medicine’ is well known to any medical student. But how do we make meaningful evidence from data? Good statistics. Thankfully the days have moved on from trying to do it all with pencil and paper, put some statistical packages seem almost as cumbersome to use. OpenEpi has absolutely nothing to do with adrenaline and everything to do with epidemiology. Taking its philosophical cues from the Open Source movement and websites like SourceForge, the programme is available to run online or download. It is not as functional as any of the major software packages such as SPSS – whose inventor is now trying to push politics forward using statistics – but it is useful as a first look at data. It’s use is probably best for preliminary evidence. Grants from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to the Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University made development possible. It selflessly includes links to its competitors, including StatPages.org. Since Youtube took off everyone is a film-maker, since blogging everyone is a writer, since OpenEpi will everyone become a statistician? Probably not, but it may help.

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Watching TV poses heart risk

Thursday, January 13th, 2011

X-Factor addict..?
Call of Duty professional..?

A recent study published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology examines the association between screen time and heart attacks..

Read more here: http://www.heraldsun.com.au/ipad/watcing-tv-poses-heart-risk/story-fn6bfmgc-1225985791011

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A Cartoon Guide to Becoming a Doctor

Wednesday, January 5th, 2011
Reading A Cartoon Guide to Becoming a Doctor is no substitute for actually going to medical school but may provide some tongue-in-cheek towards getting through once you are there. This cartoon is written by an anonymous medical student, now doctor, about the trials and tribulations of rotations, examinations and personal life, occasionally featuring guest submissions. The byline claims that that it is ‘Lessons on the medical training process from somebody with absolutely no artistic talent’ which is a little unfair. The drawing is basic but totally coherent. The writing is quite US-orientated, but it translates quite well transatlantically once you work out what a ‘resident’ doesn’t just mean someone who lives somewhere. Recent highlights include a skeleton draft of a personal statement for applying to medical school which probably really isn’t that helpful. Have a look at the cartoon here, or if you fancy adding your own submission, email the author here.

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Medical career map

Wednesday, January 5th, 2011
Postgraduate medical training has transformed enormously in the last 5 years. New medical graduates may no longer be famililar with what the abbreviation PRHO stands for, but are more familiar with terms such as LTFTT. The MMC (Modernising Medical Careers) project has changed things to an astonishing degree. Do you understand FTSTA? LAT? Fortunately, Wales Deanery have produced an interactive guide to medical training which spells things out one stage at a time. Now careers can be as easy as GP ST1-3. Check out the guide here.

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Professional values in action

Wednesday, January 5th, 2011
Following their previous interactive series of ethics dilemmas online for doctors, the GMC have released a sequel (or prequel?) for medical students. They are designed for students who have read some of the GMC’s guidance on ethical issues in care and feel confident applying these principles to real-life situations. On the interactive site it is possible to role-play as two different students, one of whom is on a hospital placement and one of whom is placed in General Practice. Both come across difficult situations. There are also two interactive case studies in which the main protagonist is a tutor who is mentoring students who are having problems while studying a medical school. There are serious of ‘Spot the Mistake’ questions, and a few quiz questions. Try the cases online here.

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