grand rounds on south african shores.

it's not just the soccer world cup that is on south african shores but the great grand rounds, something that some would say is far more important than the world cup (ok only one guy would actually say that and he is in a psychiatric institution in outer mongolia) is also presently hosted in south africa!!! proudly south african!!!

but time to see what the bloggers have dished up for us this week.



here is an interesting article sent by preeti kaur which is relevant in the context of the world cup. i must say i think that fifa should stick to soccer and plundering african countries and keep out of healthcare but i may be wrong.


greenpoint stadium

amy tendrich reflects on the lessons learned by the ada.

another blogger making her voice heard in the diabetic community is kerri sparling.


a kuduzela, an variation of the vuvuzela










philip hickey, a psychologists questions the tendency of modern medicine to add a diagnosis to pretty much anything, in this case sexual disorders.



in a somewhat related post james baker wonders if some things that modern medicine has labelled a disease may only be problems of living this thing we call life.


jo'burg stadium










a south african reflects on lessons learned from soccer. fifa, with their autocratic laws imposed on previously free south africans may demand royalties, but then again she has moved to far away shores, so i think she might be safe


the great doctor anonymous touches on an issue that i often think about, the end of a blog. this one touches a nerve with me because i also sometimes consider how long my own blog will live.

a sotho blowing a kuduzela

how to cope with chronic pain has a nice piece on professional sports stars and pain they feel. he concentrates on retired nfl players. if he were to look at soccer players i'm sure he would find the active players cry all the time, especially when the ref is looking.


polokwane stadium

bob vineyard of insureblog shines a light on an aspect of medical insurance that ultimately played a part in the demise of a cancer patient.




south african supporters armed with vuvuzelas, makarapas and glasses (to see better of course)

andrew holtz of mditv tells us that watching soccer may even be more dangerous than playing it, despite the expressions of pain and agony on the faces of the numerous world cup players forever diving.

a man i consider a great blog academic, doctor rich wonders about the motives of people trashing the jupiter trial in an otherwise respected journal.




an old style makarapa with matching spectacles. we can make a spectacle of ourselves if we want to













robin mockenhaupt looks at some financial aspects of prevention of disease in the elderly.


true style south african supporter

louise discusses how some clinics will get hit hard by delays in payments by medicaid.



the goal that wasn't. well done fifa!

walter jessen tells us about a certificate that has recently been launched by the health on the internet foundation. this will hopefully help advice seekers to be a bit more critical about the things they read online.




david harlow looks at health information from a slightly different angle.
good old south african soccer glasses












dr deb gives us advice in the form of tips for mental fitness. have a look how many you do.




the now famous soccer city in soweto

the happy hospitalist has stumbled on a much cheaper alternative to using a translator when you and your patient don't share a communal language. happy, i too have seen this technique used in south africa with similar results.


a band maybe? they at least all play the same note.

jill of all trades talks about something that has always been close to my heart, the training of the future doctors of the world. some day i hope to once again become involved.





the cheating devious uruguay understanding of foot in the word football.

the legendary blogger, dr charles takes a look at an isolation experiment that is supposed to mimic a trip to mars. in the end maby it only mimics isolation. besides, what's a surgeon doing in such an experiment? do they want them to fight?

makes me proud.

doctor bates relays a short humorous story.




my team, although they went out early (and after all it's not rugby)

alan dappen writing for get better health discusses a pleasant encounter with a patient, even though money issues were discussed.

maradona was often more entertaining to watch than the soccer.

and that's it for this week's edition. i hope it supplied a nice few posts for your enjoyment. please feel free to link here.

next week's grand rounds will be held over at captain atopic's place.

grand rounds

i have been bestowed the great and grand honour of hosting grand rounds this coming tuesday. i thought that a general soccer world cup theme may be in order seeing that my country is presently the host of the tournament, so fire up your vuvuzelas and get writing.

all medical or medically related posts will be welcome. of course, with me being african, any submissions from uruguay will not be considered. posts from fifa will also be rejected.

please send all submissions to bongi (that's me) at amanzi dot com not later than sunday 11 july at midnight south african time (i don't know what time that is wherever you are). please put grand rounds in the subject line.

surgexperiences 116

welcome to surgexperiences, a collection of surgical tales. pull up a chair and engulf yourself in close up stories of surgery.

lets kick off with what i experienced as a most disturbing story about a threat. with all the people surgeons deal with, occasionally one is bound to run into a whackjob. dr bates, keep yourself safe. my favorite quilt maker also talks about how some patients can be a nightmare. but her worst?? i think not.

the privilege of being allowed into a very intimate time of a person's life is beautifully illustrated by buckeye. he also brings us a thought provoking post looking at the line between life and death. in the present age, where exactly does this line lie?

surgical emphysema! if it didn't imply bad things, we would all love it. so go and crunch some crepitus with aggravated.

a typical story about the dangers of walking your grandmother to church is brought to us by medstudent101. i'm sure everyone in surgery has dealt with this exact patient in their practice. also take a look at the very relevant cartoon on the top left.

chris links to a story reminding us who the real victims of war are.

sterileeye brings us two great posts. the first is one more educational post about a gastrectomy and a bit more. the second touches on something dear to all surgeons' hearts. the right to say what they want to during operations. just try to remember when the patient is awake. there are also some good comments.

if you want to have an idea what it's like in an operation, there is only one place to stop. sid once again paints a beautiful picture for the less initiated. because, yes sid, it is beautiful.

herrera gives an educational piece on dealing with cholesterol. nice, but i'm just wondering about "reasonable amounts of tobacco".

i personally think keagirl has reason to be smug (even if she is a urologist).

intraoporate orates a beautiful piece about something we all feel, usually too often, exhaustion. for those of you who haven't yet found this gem of a blog, catch a wakeup and take a look.

tia. us africans know what it means. take a look at amanzimtoti's schweet blog.

alice looks at the difficult question of dnr and how to break it to the family.

terry shares a strange quirk of a nurse she had the 'pleasure' of working with.

bruce gets published in the new york times health blog. i was glad to see him discuss a point i recently touched on too, although the question of personal advocacy verses guardian advocacy makes it slightly different.

kim may be burning the candle at both ends.


last and very possibly least, take a look who is a future guest on the doctor anonymous radio show (top right)

and that's it for this edition of surgexperiences. please send submissions for the next edition to this link. also, for anyone wishing to join the growing family of surgexperience hosts, contact jeff, the mastermind behind this humble venture.

please also don't hesitate to link to this surgexperiences from your own blogs.

surgexperiences

once again surgexperiences will be visiting this blog on 2 march. surgexperiences is a blog carnival about surgical blogs. but it is really open to all medical blogs with a slight surgical slant. so all my favorite blogs and bloggers, please submit your posts here.

i look forward to hearing from you all.

surgexperiences

surgexperiences 113 is up at counting sheep. it is a blog carnival dealing mainly but not only with surgical posts. take a look.

also, for those interested in hosting a future edition, contact jeff.

a grand beginning

i am very excited to announce that grand rounds is coming to the sunny shores of south africa next week. the first day of the new year will be celebrated here on my blog with a collection of the best medical blogs of the blogosphere.

although a loose theme of new beginnings will possibly be followed, any and all submissions are welcome as they should be, so get submitting, fellow medbloggers!

send submissions to bongi at amanzi dot com. please put the words "grand rounds" in the subject line. please place a link in the message. you are welcome to give a summary of the post, but this is not required.

the deadline for submissions is sunday 30 december. late submissions may not be included.

i look forward to your submissions!!!

surgexperiences 104

when i was a registrar a friend of mine told me he had been offered a job in a surgical practise in pietermaritzburg (hi henry). i said i couldn't imagine surgeons (general) working together. we are all too aggressive and individualistic. we are all too type a. he went there and proved me wrong. now i work in an association with two other surgeons and i prove myself wrong on a daily basis.

when first i saw surgexperiences, once again i had the thought that we surgeons couldn't pull something like this off. team work is not our forte. happily, it seems that i was wrong again. i hope that all readers of surgexperiences will continue to prove me wrong and make this a regular must stop for all surgeons and other interested bloggers.

the contenders:-

respectful insolence writes a neat post about how to royally irritate a surgeon.
why you should read it?
well for a surgeon this may not be news, but it does clear up a few misconceptions that are prevalent in the general population.


rlbates writes a story about a friend who gets shot.
why you should read it?
i had a bit of a chuckle when i read this. i maintain that when a surgeon says you are lucky, you're not really lucky. it would have been luckier not to have been shot in the first place. but a few interesting pictures and some good advice. well posted rl.


chris writes an interesting piece about operating on a newborn.
why should you read it?
well it is an interesting blog about a surgeon going to iraq. but, the post for me touched very nicely on some of the reasons and rewards for doing what we do. in the end, it is a priveledge.


dr campbell very skillfully gives a story of insomnia.
why should you read it?
it is a very well written post to start with. but mostly because it is very funny. it illustrates how patients sometimes cross a line and have no idea.


college and finance puts a spotlight on nursing.
why should you read it?
some of the medblog addicts are still students contemplating careers. if this is you and nursing is in your list of options, take a look.


make mine trauma posted a nice piece on colectomy.
why should you read it?
firstly i think this is a pretty cool blog to start with. but this post specifically nicely captures the magic of actually operating. mmt, i know how you feel. in fact it was similar feelings i had while assisting that pointed me down the career path i finally chose. the title picture comes from her blog. even the picture testifies to her excitement and enthusiasm about surgery. (iassume you took this photo yourself?)



aggravated docsurg writes a humorous post on the relationship between gerds treatment and sexual behaviour disorders.
why should you read it?
are you kidding me?? if you are not inquisitive about that title, then nothing i say will convince you to read it. if i love doing laparoscopic nissens, i wonder what can be deduced about my sexual behaviour disorders.


just up the dose once again entertains with a story about a drama queen.
why should you read it?
little karen writes as well as we all wish we could. her blog is definitely one i always enjoy. this post has our usual african flavour that we no doubt are used to but may be unusual to others. it also touches on our unique style of training, ie. throw the junior in the deep end and leave him to sink or swim.


mitch writes a riveting account of circ arrest cases from the head of the table.
why should you read it?
it gives another perspective, that of the anaesthetist, during these trickey cases. without these great people our jobs would be impossible.


sid never fails to amaze and entertain. here he is again with a story about dentures (or chickens)
why should you read it?
firstly, if you're not reading the master blogger's blog yet, where have you been? secondly, we all enjoy a good well told story of the unusual.


buckeye gives us some nice hernia photos and sparks a small debate.
why should you read it?
i think buckeye is a good regular port of call, especially when he discusses a case.


someonetc is a good place to visit for people interested in orthopedics.
why should you read it?
the guy loves rugby! that is reason enough! someone, i hope you watched the south africa, england game.


thanks to surgexperiences maintained by jeffrey at monash medical student and surgexperiences for allowing me to host this carnival. may it grow from strength to strength. please support his worthwhile endeavour.



next edition of surgexperience:-
Surgexperiences 105
To be hosted at: Suture for a Living, http://rlbatesmd.blogspot.com/
Date: 30 September 2007
2wks away.