Raise Your Voice about Type I DM

One of the things I love about the blogosphere is reading people who are passionate about their point of view and wants to share it with the world. Kerri Morrone is one of these people. Her blog is Six Until Me and I have been following an education and advocacy "movement" on her blog she calls "Raise Your Voice." She has designated Monday, April 14th to 'Raise Your Voice.'

What she is looking to do is to raise awareness about Type I Diabetes Mellitus. The media is full of messages about Type II DM, and it should be with the numbers rising and younger and younger kids being diagnosed with Type II. What Kerri is trying to do is raise awareness on what has traditionally been called "juvenile onset diabetes."

Just in the past week, she held a logo contest on her blog (the winner is above). There even now is a Raise Your Voice shop where one can purchase t-shirts, stickers, buttons, and magnets. All profits will go to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation.

I am so moved by this effort, that I have invited Kerri to be on the next edition of The Doctor Anonymous Show to briefly talk about her Raise Your Voice project and about Type I Diabetes. (This will be in addition to our already scheduled guests) So, if you haven't already, check out her blog and take part in Raise Your Voice. Good Luck, Kerri and we'll talk more on Thursday night!

The Joy of Learning

I don't know what's going on, but it seems like there were a lot of people at a conference last week - like Dr. Val, Fat Doctor, and The Happy Hospitalist. Of course, I'm jealous. I guess I really should schedule some out of town time at some point soon.

Anyway, I've also taken up educating myself a little bit. But, this is a little out of necessity. My board certification in Family Medicine is up this year, and I have to take my recertification exam in a few months. In fact, I just scheduled the date for July 25th. (Maybe I should get one of those countdown clocks for my sidebar).

I don't know about anyone else, but I'm not the biggest fan of standardized tests. Even going back to the ACT, SAT, MCAT, USMLE, etc - I have this mental block and anxiety going into these exams and preparing for these exams. So, I'm in the midst of board exam preparation over the next few weeks.

Dr. Val and I talked about this on the latest edition of The Doctor Anonymous Show last week (about 10 min into the show). The problem is not learning and re-learning the stuff. It's how much can you remember and retain for the exam. There is also these test taking techniques that I have to re-learn as well. The knowledge is up there, it's just how to access it - especially when the heart is racing and the forehead is sweating. Only 108 days now - Yeesh!

Show 29 Wrap-up

Thanks so much for Paul Levy for coming on the show. We talked about the Boston Red Sox (of course) and some professional football team up there (he didn't remember the name - hehe). Then, we went into the circumstances by which he became the CEO of the hospital. He said that he had no prior hospital administrative experience (shocking to me). He, in fact, was in charge of the sewer system (Yeesh). And, there were thoughts of selling the hospital. It's now six years later and it looks like they are still around. (video post above)

To me, his philosophy is so simple, it's mind boggling. He has made hospital information as transparent as possible for anyone who wants to know it. He posts things like quality data and infection rates on his blog (good and bad). (I mistakenly mentioned financials in my video post, but I don't think I heard that in the interview - sorry). And, let me tell you, things like quality data and hospital infection rates are somethings that some hospitals don't want people to know about. This move was so trend setting that the competing hospitals up there had to do the same thing to keep pace.

I'm on my physician hospital leadership team and he gave me advice that "learning about negotiation" would be valuable as a hospital physician leader. He teaches a course about this at his hospital. I would LOVE to hear this lecture. I just have to find some time to head up to Boston. He also invited me up there in the fall for a Red Sox playoff game. Now, I didn't tell him that I live in "Cleveland Indians Nation" (as opposed to "Red Sox Nation"). So, I would probably get beat up if I wore my Cleveland Indians garb into Fenway Park. hehe

Next week, we'll be joined by South African surgeon blogger Bongi from Other Things Amanzi. He'll be calling in live where it will be about 4am where he's at. We definitely have devoted guests on The Doctor Anonymous Show. We will also be having a special guest co-host. In two weeks, we'll have Vijay from Scan Man's Notes. So, definitely stay tuned to the "number one health talk show on Blog Talk Radio" (not really, but sounds good). Have a great weekend, everybody!

Dr. A Show 29 TONIGHT

Thursday, April 3rd, 2008 at 9pm Eastern Time

Join us tonight for The Doctor Anonymous Show . Our guest will be Paul Levy who is author of the blog Running A Hospital. Before Paul makes his appearance on the show, I'll also be talking about the April Fools Grand Rounds of this week. What did you think of it? Did you like it, did you not like it? Did your post get left out? What did you think of the multiple host format for GR? How bummed is Dr. Wes that he has to follow this next week? hehe

In addition to all of this, I'll be taking your phone calls! Take part in the chat room, or what I affectionately call, "The MedBloggers Lounge." A great opportunity to interact with medbloggers you've only read about. You can even call into the show to talk and/or ask a question. See you for the show!

For first time Blog Talk Radio listeners:
*Although it is not required to listen to the show, I encourage you to register on the BlogTalkRadio site prior to the show. I think it will make the process easier.

*To get to my show site, click here. As show time gets closer, keep hitting "refresh" on your browser until you see the "Click to Listen" button. Then, of course, press the "Click to Listen" button.

*You can also participate in the live chat room before, during, and after the show. Look for the "Chat Available" button in the upper right hand corner of the page. If you are registered with the BTR site, your registered name and picture will appear in the chat room.

*You can also call into the show. The number is on my show site. I'll be taking calls beginning at around the bottom of the hour. Hope these tips are helpful!

Dr. A Show 29 Preview

The Doctor Anonymous Show is proud to welcome Paul Levy who is President and CEO of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston. He is author of the blog Running A Hospital. I've always wondered what it's like being "on the other side." Of course, administrators probably feel sometimes that people like docs and nurses are on "the other side." (Video post above)

For those of you who don't work in medicine on a day-to-day basis, especially in a hospital, there are times when clinical people like docs and nurses clash with the administrative team on certain issues (did I say that nice enough). You have probably seen (or even written) posts about hospital administration. Now, don't get me wrong, this is not going to be a combative interview. But, I am looking forward to it.

For example, here is an excerpt from a post called The Ethics of CEO Blogging:

One of the discussants identified four domains that he thought of as important in thinking about the ethics of a CEO blog, and about which he posed some questions:

1. Voice: Is the CEO blogger blogging as an individual or as the voice of the organization? Charlie's blog is hosted in the HPHC website and linked to HPHC marketing materials. Yours is on Blogger and not linked to the BIDMC site. But when the CEO speaks, what he or she says can't be separated from the organization.

My reply: Whenever I give a speech, or testify before a legislative or regulatory body, or give a media interview, or write an article (for this blog or a journal) people assume that I am speaking from a position of authority and responsibility for the organization. That is just something that cannot be avoided. I do my best to be aware of the institutional consequences of what I say, regardless of the forum.

So, tune in Thursday, April 3rd at 9pm Eastern Time. Also, before Paul comes on the show, I will be talking about The April Fools Grand Rounds edition this week. I was happy to be one of the co-hosts for that edition. I'll be talking about that and give you some "behind the scenes" info that you won't get anywhere else. I'm also hoping that some of the other co-hosts will call in as well. Tune in for Show 29! You'll be glad you did.

Grand Rounds Episode V

Welcome to Grand Rounds - sort of. For those of you who do not know, the real host this week is the one and only Grunt Doc. But, if didn't know already, he could not handle the entire GR himself. It's hard to explain. If you don't know what I'm talking about, then start with the Grunt Doc blog this week and you'll eventually end up here.

For those of you who are up to speed and are bounced here from the Medgadget blog, I encourage you to watch my video post above. Here is a presentation of a few links that I have been allowed to present:

Kerri Morrone blogs about Diabetes Alert Day.

ERNursery goes off on JCAHO, er, The Joint Commission (TJC) on the wonderful area of hospital medication reconciliation.

Neurmed explains how expensive placebos work better.

The How To Cope with Pain blog states there are new DEA rules allowing 90 day prescription of pain meds.

Colorado Health Insurance Insider talks about hospitals doing credit checks on uninsured patients.

The Highlight Health blog reviews neurofibromatosis and warns of a potential research funding cut.

Finally, Tales of an Emergency Room Nurse gets it right. Here is a youtube video about the use of pain scales.

For the rest of the links (and a whole lot more), click on over to Dr. Rob and Musings of A Distracible Mind.