Archive for category Uncategorized
Learning Heart murmurs
Posted by admin in Uncategorized on October 11th, 2009
Step 1:
Learn to recognise and understand the theory behind the sounds by visiting the auscultation assistant
Step 2:
Test yourself! the test below features a nice little quiz complete with heart sounds
Sorted!
Oh dear…
Posted by admin in Uncategorized on September 28th, 2009
Its good to see medical education embracing new delivery formats. Always room for improvement though
The US’s irrational fear of socialized medicine
Posted by admin in Uncategorized on August 29th, 2009
We knew the arguments against socialized medicine were running low when investors business daily claimed that people such as Stephen Hawking would suffer if forced into a system of socialized medicine. This despite the fact that Stephen Hawking, a resident of Cambridge, England has been treated for many years in the British NHS and was very recently admitted to a hospital practicing socialized medicine.
So why the fear? Well, other than post-cold war views towards anything that comes close to liberalism there are many arguments against socialized systems for anything:
- You lose competition – With only one health care provider, there would be no innovation. This ofcourse is untrue. Drug companies and health tech companies would still need to compete to sell to whoever is buying, regardless of whether its the goverment or individuals.
- Loss of Choice – ” I don’t want my government choosing what treatments I can and cant have because they want to ration healthcare.” Guess what, your HMO’s already do this although not only do they need to ration out all there payments to all of their customers but they also need to pass over some to the shareholders.
Finally its worthing pointing out that a healthcare system provided by goverment does not rule out private care. In the UK there are both, if the NHS will not cover your treatment you can still get private health care insurance in addition (considerably cheaper than in the USA) therefore providing the choice that you may otherwise have lost out on.
A capitalist economy is without doubt the best economy but there are somethings that need to be run by the goverment. The thought of privatizing something like the armed forces is ridiculous. Yet we still have private contractors providing to and innovating for the US forces. Healthcare should be on the same playing field. Whats the point in defending your citizens if you not gonna look after them inside your country.
Sanjay Gupta to Regina Benjamin? Talk about a U-turn
Posted by admin in Uncategorized on July 13th, 2009
Sanjay Gupta, American neurosurgeon and media personality. A frequenter of breakfast TV and Time magazine couldn’t have been a more different choice from the now announced Surgeon general Regina Benjamin (following sanjay’s self-removal from the post). Dr Regina Benjamin is a primary care physician. She has spent most of her life treating those who usually have very little access to healthcare. A commitment she was forced to make to gain funding for medical school.
Dr. Benjamin is understated and although coming into the limelight slightly after her show of determination during hurricane Katrina she far away from the glamour of Sanjay Gupta’s career path. Why then the change of direction? In this writers eyes she reflects the direction of the health reform currently circling the minds of policy makers. Primary care is cheaper. Primary physicians are among the lowest paid of medical school graduates and there numbers are diminishing. Pushing a higher proportion of future doctors into primary care makes sense for a lot of reasons. Mainly, the patient feels like they have more access to care yet the is less cost. A win win situation. This is already a policy adopted by countries such as the United Kingdom leading to recent ballooning of u.k primary care physician salaries so that most now earn well over $200,000.
Is there a bad side? While increased primary care may leave the patient feeling satisfied and not bankrupt, decreased investment in hospital care and speciality medicine is likely to have an impact on innovation and while it may make us feel better to have more access to doctors temporarily, a cure for cancer would be worth much much more.
Something to think about
Posted by admin in Uncategorized on April 21st, 2009
This is a very quick post designed to get people thinking. Also to prevent me having to think if much to write.
Universal Healthcare, if done properly, should be something that all societies desire.
How come nobody ever says anything about universal food? Eating healthily isn’t always cheap. Yet nobody has asked for a government run foodstore.
Do we consider food less important than healthcare? Probably not. We are a true utilitarian society. As long as those that are malnourished don’t reach a big enough number to bother us. We’ll be quite happy to let them die.
Happened this week…
Posted by admin in Uncategorized on March 4th, 2009
Here’s a brief summary of what happened this week in the journalasphere:
- NEJM found that composition of diet ie proportions protein, carbs, fats in diet has little effect on the amount of weight loss when dieting.
- Archives of Internal medicine released a study showing that taking up to 1300mg of calcium a day decreased risk of all types of cancer in women and colorectal cancer in men. see here.
- Study published in the journal Thorax showed that watching TV for more than two hours a day increases the risk of asthma in children under 12, it made the link that this is due to a sedentary lifestyle.
- Study in Nature suggested that Alzheimer’s could be due to reinitiating of an apoptosis cycle usually only see in the fetus after the human brain has produced more neurons then are necessary.
Is the governments protection of the FDA a sign of a larger problem in the United States
Posted by admin in Medical News, Uncategorized on February 22nd, 2009
“The FDA has shown itself incapable of keeping dangerous products off the market, and now the Supreme Court has said patients can’t sue companies for redress.” a georgetown professor told the NYT.
Quite right he was as well
Medical device makers cannot be sued as long as they conform to the FDA, as is imposed by the United States Supreme court. Consumers suing medical device makers already approved by the FDA would’nt look good on the FDA’s record. So the supreme court ruling made sense? no, if the FDA had done their job, the consumer would’nt need to sue. And if the FDA didn’t do their job? well at least the consumer would have to protection of the law on their side. Without the law, we cannot maintain our rights. This is a situation in which respect for the government and its related agencies has come before the basic rights of its citizens and the law which protects their rights.
The FDA should be given the same treatment that any private organization would. If they cannot do the job, they receive no respect from the public. If they can, they receive respect. This is the way in which we maintain our freedom. We should not have to believe in something just because our government tells us too, especially when it endangers our lives, that is most certainly not freedom.
Just added: First aid for USMLE Step 1
Posted by admin in Uncategorized on November 28th, 2008
To download, visit the textbooks section of medichack.com
Have we been abducted by aliens?
Posted by admin in Uncategorized on August 28th, 2008
You may be wondering why we haven’t added any new material for so long. The answer is not that we have died and forgotten to tell anyone. We are preparing a bumper release for september 7th as many universities begin to return from the summer and will use our resources to get back to studying, so….
stay tuned 
