Mini-Reviews: Medical Non-Fiction

I like to read medical non-fiction. Not textbooks, but the kind of book a layperson with an interest can read, and someone in a medical profession may also enjoy, and learn from. There are three important things I look for in these books: Contributes to the non-medical reader’s understanding/interest of their health and/or bodies in

Baby-CPR: Full Circle

The first time I partook in a baby’s resuscitation was during my fourth year of medical school. It was a disaster: the wall-suction malfunctioned, the nursing staff were in the precarious business of changing shifts, and all algorithms flew out of the window.

I vowed optimistically that when I was a doctor, I would not let a baby die that way.

A Sadder Stabbed Heart

When I got a call one morning at 06h00 to notify me of a stabbed heart in Trauma, I was not filled with trepidation like the last time I received such a call. I thought, “I’ve done this before. I know what to do.” But I did also get the call while I was busy crushing

Under Thy Fingers*

My phone rings while I am taking ward round.

“Doctor, you must come quickly,” says the ER nurse, “We have a stab-heart in casualty.”

And I run, like they tell you in med school to run for stabbed hearts.

PSA: Coronary Artery Disease Sucks

As you may recall, I was on Cardiology Week recently. Despite the hard work, it was really quite rewarding. We have a fantastic Cardiology Unit, and it shows. Anyway, because our country has a smorgasbord of infectious and lifestyle diseases, the majority of what we dealt with was acute coronary syndromes. One day in the

36 Hours On-Call: For Reals

My school doesn’t allow students to be on duty for more than 24 hours at a time. The few times that a doctor has expected me to stay beyond 24 hours, I have always pointed out the rule and if they disregarded it, reported it. Because, seriously. But for some reason, we have one week

For Mother’s Day: A Rural Story of a Mother’s Love

I have amazing women in my life – a wonderful mother, grandmother and aunts. I have written about them before, so this Mother’s Day I am sharing a story I have told them, and I know they won’t mind it as a tribute to all mothers. My rural Family Medicine rotation earlier this year was

The Epitome of Scutwork

The picture alongside is a femoral compression device. It is used to compress the femoral artery after a procedure that required incision of the artery. Suffice to say it is not available in our state-owned hospitals. We have to compress with brute strength instead. Recently while my firm was on call, a woman was in

Another new beginning

Things have not been going very well of late. Mostly it has just been my own personal issues that unfortuantely do have the ability to get me down and out. Needless to say, the Musculo test on Friday was atrocious. Not only was the work difficult and volumous, but I could not concentrate or focus

Studying for one more 271-module…

I do not enjoy the Cardiovascular System. Which is a bit of a problem, seeing that I’ve been told The Boy’s father is one of the best paediatric cardiologists around. Pray he never sees this blog then. The problem is that the CVS is just not interesting. You may remember previous posts when I was