Chicken Chat, Marrakech ©Tauseef Mehrali 2010
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Saturday, March 27, 2010
Thursday, February 18, 2010
Make room for the shock doc
As I grow older and theoretically wiser, it is becoming clearer and clearer that I am turning into my dad - who is, incidentally, an authority on wisdom: he says things like "that would be wise" on the phone.
Balding - tick
Inability to lie-in - tick
Buying anti-freeze in bulk - tick
More than one pair of brown shoes - tick
Read the rest here.
Balding - tick
Inability to lie-in - tick
Buying anti-freeze in bulk - tick
More than one pair of brown shoes - tick
Read the rest here.
Saturday, January 30, 2010
Charity, recession and micro-loans
Understandably people give less in charity during a recession. At the very least it forces us to re-examine how, where and to whom we give.
I recently came across Kiva, a microfinancing scheme which involves lending micro-loans "to unique entrepreneurs around the globe" "for the sake of alleviating poverty".
Reading around, there appear to be some drawbacks, most notably the exorbitant interest rates charged to borrowers. This latter aspect flies in the face of the microfinancing envisaged by its creator Muhammad Yunus, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006.
Does anyone have any experience of being involved in such a scheme? Would you consider it as an alternative to "traditional" charity? Share your thoughts here.
I recently came across Kiva, a microfinancing scheme which involves lending micro-loans "to unique entrepreneurs around the globe" "for the sake of alleviating poverty".
Reading around, there appear to be some drawbacks, most notably the exorbitant interest rates charged to borrowers. This latter aspect flies in the face of the microfinancing envisaged by its creator Muhammad Yunus, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006.
Does anyone have any experience of being involved in such a scheme? Would you consider it as an alternative to "traditional" charity? Share your thoughts here.
Sunday, January 17, 2010
The snow has gone
The snow has gone. All of it. As a fully signed up member of the pro-snow brigade I mourn its passing. (Although rumour has it that it may well be back on Wednesday).
As the snow dusted the London cityscape, I continued to regress further into childhood. The mere sight of snow brings back vivid memories of sledging, dysmorphic snowmen and the sheer delight of school cancelation. My wife thought I’d gone insane as I eagerly peered out of the flat window and made my minute-by-minute snowfall pronouncements, cheering on the subzero temperatures and blizzards.
Read the rest here.
As the snow dusted the London cityscape, I continued to regress further into childhood. The mere sight of snow brings back vivid memories of sledging, dysmorphic snowmen and the sheer delight of school cancelation. My wife thought I’d gone insane as I eagerly peered out of the flat window and made my minute-by-minute snowfall pronouncements, cheering on the subzero temperatures and blizzards.
Read the rest here.
Saturday, January 16, 2010
How to measure a mountain
Managed to sneak a letter into today's Guardian review in support of the Persian polymath al-Biruni (973-1048) against Renaissance hegemony.
Letter and accompanying cartoon.
Letter and accompanying cartoon.
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
Sunday, December 06, 2009
Beyond Begum Syndrome
As a house officer I think I was just too busy to dedicate time to selecting the attributes that would constitute my bespoke "heartsink patient". More senior colleagues had seemingly highly refined criteria for the awarding of such an accolade to a patient. Thankfully my own portfolio of heartsink stereotypes never really took off. Perhaps I became more empathic through my training, or perhaps I just became desensitised? However, one stereotype does live on and continues to baffle me: Begum Syndrome.
Read on here.
Read on here.
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
A GP unable to prescribe antibiotics is like...?
A (non-medic) friend recently tweeted this story from the BBC to me. The headline commands GPs 'must cut use of antibiotics'. His additional tongue-in-cheek note was "is this your career unravelling?" peddling the longstanding myth that antibiotics form the solitary weapon in a GP's armoury.
The latest diktat is from the European Centre of Disease Prevention and Control and warns against inappropriate antibiotic use and increasing bacterial resistance. This is nothing new. Fortunately the powers that be have realised that the situation is not down to an incestuous relationship between GPs and drug companies but public (un)awareness. The government apparently launched a major advertising campaign earlier this year telling people that antibiotics do not work on coughs or colds.
Anecdotally patients I've seen seem less resistant to the idea that rest, fluids and over the counter medicines should see them through a viral illness. My family have stopped asking me for advice, safe in the knowledge that they can pre-empt my suggestion of "take some paracetamol and let's review things in a couple of weeks".
This year the picture's been complicated somewhat by the perpetual fear of swine flu that appears to be regarded by most patients as just a notch down in severity from the bubonic plague. An interesting result of the heightened swine flu awareness though does appear to be an increasing appreciation that antibiotics do not treat viruses.
What are your experiences?
The latest diktat is from the European Centre of Disease Prevention and Control and warns against inappropriate antibiotic use and increasing bacterial resistance. This is nothing new. Fortunately the powers that be have realised that the situation is not down to an incestuous relationship between GPs and drug companies but public (un)awareness. The government apparently launched a major advertising campaign earlier this year telling people that antibiotics do not work on coughs or colds.
Anecdotally patients I've seen seem less resistant to the idea that rest, fluids and over the counter medicines should see them through a viral illness. My family have stopped asking me for advice, safe in the knowledge that they can pre-empt my suggestion of "take some paracetamol and let's review things in a couple of weeks".
This year the picture's been complicated somewhat by the perpetual fear of swine flu that appears to be regarded by most patients as just a notch down in severity from the bubonic plague. An interesting result of the heightened swine flu awareness though does appear to be an increasing appreciation that antibiotics do not treat viruses.
What are your experiences?
Monday, August 10, 2009
On being Mr Wolf on Saturday mornings
A couple of Saturdays ago I found myself being awoken at 08:00 by an alarm I couldn’t remember setting. I lay in bed for a few moments toying with the idea of returning to sleep knowing full well that I’ve inherited my father’s inability to lie in. By 09:00 I was showered and shaved and working my way through a long list of neglected emails and admin. This was going to be a productive Saturday.
At 09:30 the phone rang. I didn’t recognise the number. Ordinarily I would have let it ring out but something compelled me to answer.
Carry on reading here.
At 09:30 the phone rang. I didn’t recognise the number. Ordinarily I would have let it ring out but something compelled me to answer.
Carry on reading here.
Sunday, June 21, 2009
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on the iPhone and Twitter
The vast majority of the weekend so far has been unashamedly devoted to mastering the new iPhone. My heavily entrenched scepticism prevented me from riding the euphoric first waves of iPhone possession. It soon became clear that the fact I was drooling whenever I saw an iPhone within touching distance meant the time was right to become one of Steve Jobs' iChildren. Stephen Fry's panegyric in yesterday's Guardian has helped expel any remaining tinges of guilt.
On Friday I was part of a tutorial introducing us to the potential/emerging role of new media in medical education. The focus of the session was Twitter. Again something I'd given wide berth to and dismissed as a means for people to broadcast nothing more than updates on their bowel habits. The so-called Green Revolution in Iran (and its apparent Twitter dependency) however happened to coincide with tutorial lending it a surreal geopolitical air of significance. The utility of Twitter as an educational tool is actually quite exciting: the instant recording of Patients' Unmet Needs (PUNs) and Doctors' Educational Needs (DENs), the posing of concise clinical conundrums to a group of peers, to name a few.
On Friday I was part of a tutorial introducing us to the potential/emerging role of new media in medical education. The focus of the session was Twitter. Again something I'd given wide berth to and dismissed as a means for people to broadcast nothing more than updates on their bowel habits. The so-called Green Revolution in Iran (and its apparent Twitter dependency) however happened to coincide with tutorial lending it a surreal geopolitical air of significance. The utility of Twitter as an educational tool is actually quite exciting: the instant recording of Patients' Unmet Needs (PUNs) and Doctors' Educational Needs (DENs), the posing of concise clinical conundrums to a group of peers, to name a few.
Saturday, June 20, 2009
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
On Meat Free Mondays
The next BMJ blog entry is now live:
My grandfather used to counsel my mother’s worries about my insatiable carnivorous tendencies as a child by suggesting that the only solution would be to ensure I gain a butcher as a father-in-law. I would frequently be teased at dinner parties when it looked like I was struggling to make it to dessert with mock incentives such as the profiteroles actually being meatballs. My meat eating was so ingrained by my teens that an aunt felt compelled to proclaim that I should stop making my stomach a graveyard for dead animals.Read the whole post here.
Sunday, May 24, 2009
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Friday, May 22, 2009
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