Friday, November 30, 2007

Show # 16 Epilogue


Well, that's another show in the can. It was weird. It's been two weeks since I've done this internet radio show, and I totally forgot how to do it. It really took a few minutes until I got back into the rhythm of things again. And, of course, there was the usual beginning of the show glitch. For some reason Skype cut out at about 16 minutes in. Why does it do that? Who knows?

The international reach of the show still amazes me. Bongi tuned in live from his computer in South Africa. And, Scanman who is in India again was able to join the chat room for the live show. Something cool (and helpful) is that when you register at the BTR site and make my show a favorite (yay), the site sends you an e-mail an hour before the show. I would imagine this is very helpful halfway around the world when you're trying to figure out which time zone you're in.

Thanks so much to Kerri for being a guest on the show. Reading her blog this week, she told us that she is being treated for strep throat. So, I really appreciate you calling in even though you're feeling under the weather. Hope you're feeling better!

I did want to highlight her post called, "An Open Letter To My Pancreas." Very well written, and I highlighted it on my Grand Rounds post last year. We talked about her blog, the growing diabetes internet community that is going on out there, her work at dlife.com, getting ready for her wedding, and she's almost convinced me to try to learn code so that I can get out of blogspot and create a unique website of my own (that would be scary, huh?)

The chat room got a little surprise at the end of the show. I'm not going to say anything, yet. And, I hope those who were there in the chat room at the end of the show will keep the little secret. I'll reveal it in due course (cue sinister laugh).

Finally, I did not have a guest for next week, until I started hanging out in the chat room afterward. Grunt Doc who joined the chat room before the show even started and stayed the entire time; Grunt Doc has graciously agreed to be a guest on next week's Doctor Anonymous Show. How cool is that? So, stay tuned for more details...

Dashing MD Podiversary


Just wanted to give a shout out to the Dashing MD for reaching the one year anniversary of podcasting. He's a great guy and you could really tell by his appearance on the show a few weeks ago. Check out his one year anniversary podcast. There, he recites poetry and tells you why his cats are better than your cats (no kidding). And, as he does best, he answers e-mail questions from his listeners. Hats off to D,MD! I wish you continued success with your podcast!

Thursday, November 29, 2007

Change of Shift: Vol 2, Number 12


Welcome to Change of Shift, the best of the nursing blogosphere!

Thanks so much for Kim for inviting me to be a host. Actually, she asked me about a year ago. So, I'm sorry that it took so long for me to accept the invitation. You may be familiar with my work on Grand Rounds this year and/or last year. Hopefully, I can uphold the high quality of this nursing blog carnival.

By the way, if you haven't already, I encourage you to check out my interview with Kim on Doctor Anonymous LIVE which is my internet radio show. It was a great time and I hope to have Kim back soon on the show. Now, onto the links!



The holiday season can be very stressful, especially Christmas Eve. But, as ERNursery shares, even though the ER was packed with people, there was still room for A Holiday Surprise.

From the UK, Mousie relates a tragic story of a eight year old girl and how her death affected her mother. Reading this really made me think about a lot of things. The 20 comments really shows the impact of this story as well.

Emily from Crzegrl.net reflects on how difficult it is to be a flight nurse in her post "Potent Thanks." She writes, "I am grateful for every moment I am given with those I love." How true.



Do you remember playing the game telephone when you were growing up? Oh yeah, I did - with the soup cans and the wire and the whole thing. How does this relate to patient care? Well, Rae tells us in a post called "Let's Play Telephone." Phone triage and phone handoff of patients are always interesting. The end of the post shows how one can make a diagnosis just by talking for another 3.3 minutes on the phone.

A Float Floor RN shares a story of how difficult one shift can be. Did you know that "Sometimes It Just Hurts To Be In The Hospital" - especially when you can't get any narcan?

Kintropy In Action describes two hypothetical patients with possible diagnoses and possible treatment plans. He gives three pieces of advice from a parent of a child with disabiliies. He ends this post with a simple statement, "Let's work together, doctors, to keep her well, shall we?" I agree.



When I was a medical student (which wasn't that long ago), I remember that it was a challenge to find a case of C. difficle infection in the hospital for a case study write up. Now, it's so commonplace, that we add the letters MRSA and VRE in this discussion as well. Heart Matters reminds us that we as health care professionals and the public need to still respect C. diff and its potential fatal complications.

Speaking of MRSA, Fit Buff writes an educational post defining the term, its symptoms, and ways to prevent acquiring/spreading this contagious and potentially fatal disease.

Getting back talking about medical school, I remember my first day on the ward. It's that stereotypical first day that's depicted on television shows where virtually everybody ignores you and you as a student question why you're even there when you only feel like you're in your way. The Oracle is a student nurse now and shares a similar story in this post called, "What?"



The docs I work with at the hospital have 10-20 and sometimes 30 years more clinical experience that I do. I get intimidated when I sometimes have to say, "I think that's done a little bit differently now." Disappearing John RN asks, "How do you teach someone who knows more than you?" The story of a less experienced preceptor and a more experienced pupil.

When you pass on from this earth, have you ever thought of who will sit in judgement of you? Brain Scramble has and believes that it will not be a deity, but your patients will meet you at the pearly gates -- maybe.

What is high quality health care? This is something that Life in the NHS is asking. Even though, as a health care provider, you may hit your number targets for cost and quality numbers, the patient's perception of health care is also important.

Did you know that according to the CDC, one person out of one million who are immunized with the flu shot may be at risk of getting Guillian-Barre syndrome? The Pixel RN discusses this further and also nurse-run shot clinics.



Congrats to Pixel One, Purl Two for passing a national certification exam in her specialty. Unfortunately, she's not feeling the love from her employer who rewarded her with a huge 1/2% raise. Yeesh!

Kate from the Alternative Nursing Careers blog proclaims that nurses can do so much more than pass meds. Do you want to go beyond clinical nursing? In these posts, she outlines three steps to get you started. She also describes the career of information technology and how nurses are uniquely qualified for this type of work.

Patient privacy and confidentiality are issues that medical professionals constantly struggle with. The Nurse Practitioners Place shares some tips on how to keep patients comfortable as they share information with you.



That's it! Thanks so much for checking out Change of Shift: Doctor Anonymous style! Feel free to check out the rest of my blog. Make yourself at home. Also check out The Doctor Anonymous Show where we go "Beyond The Blog" to bring you the brightest stars in the medical blogosphere. Thanks Kim for the opportunity to host Change of Shift. The next edition of CoS will be December 13th over on Emergiblog. So, get those posts ready!

Listen LIVE tonight


BlogTalkRadio Listen Live

Thursday, November 29th, 2007 at 10:00pm Eastern Time

Join us tonight for Kerri Morrone who authors the award winning blog Six Until Me. I'm hoping the show will be "featured" again on the front page of the Blog Talk Radio website. We'll just have to see.

Also, this radio host and blogger was given some props by Alan Levy, the BlogTalkRadio CEO on a radio show last night. Don't believe me? Well, tune in to my show tonight and I'll play the sound clip for you. HA!

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 my show site. If you are registered with the BTR site, your registered name and picture will appear in the chat room. (If not, you will be designated as "guest")

*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!

Tuesday, November 27, 2007

The Kerri Morrone Interview


This week The Doctor Anonymous Show welcomes Kerri Morrone who authors the award winning blog Six Until Me. In my opinion, Kerri is one of the most popular bloggers in the diabetes blogosphere. Kerri, a type I diabetic, has reached out and touched so many people with diabetes and their families.

Join us on Thursday, November 29th at 10pm Eastern Time where we will talk about her blog, her life, and other things. She's planning a wedding for next year. That's got to be fun!

Yes, she's a Boston Red Sox fan - and as you probably know, they beat my Cleveland Indians on their way to a World Series victory. I was watching some of those games during my blogtalkradio shows. Finally, I think she has a thing for Larry Bird. If we have time, we'll have to go into that.

I've been having a string of shows where I have internet issues at the beginning of the show. Will that happen again? Will the chat room be working? Will a mutiny occur during the show? Will chaos ensue? Well, you'll just have to tune in to find out. Check back here Thursday for more details.

Grand Rounds


Grand Rounds 4.10 is now up and running at Prudence, MD: Medicine, General health care, and science. GR comes to us all the way from the Philippines this week. I wasn't able to submit anything but she still gave my blog a plug. Thanks so much for this!
This blog carnival of medical posts is already the 10th volume for the fourth year of Grand Rounds. I’ve been hanging around for a while, eversince I caught the GR bug at Doctor Anonymous’ blog. It’ll be my first time hosting this, thanks to Dr. Nicholas Genes of Blogborygmi. 
And I think the G.R. is a fine opportunity for me and for other bloggers, too, both medical and non-medical practitioners, to be able to learn more about the practice of medicine in other places (as I’m a general medicine practitioner here in the Philippines) and also other stories that are medically related that happen in other parts of the world, as well as locally. I’m glad that there’s a good turnout of posts for this week.
When I was on my blog break, I neglected to mention that Grand Rounds 4.09 was posted up at Mexico Medical Student. This was a great mix of links and music. I encourage you to check it out, if you haven't already.

My apologies to the past two hosts for not submitting anything. I was in my own little GR recovery period. Hopefully, I'll be submitting back to GR soon.

If you don't know what Grand Rounds is, it is a weekly compilation of the best posts from the medical blogosphere that moves to different sites each week. And, who doesn't like reading about medicine and science? Next week, Grand Rounds moves to Enoch Choi's Medhelp site.