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Here are a few things I wrote and found this week.
33 charts
Cardiology leaders suggest ‘experts’ should approve your social media posts
From the category of ‘did this really happen?’ 22 editors-in-chief of the worlds most prominent cardiology journals published in the Journal of the American Heart Association the suggestion that social media posts should undergo expert review. This epic display of disconnect from physician leaders was surpassed only by the fact that few cardiologists even offered a response of substance. My reminder that physicians are no longer the arbiters of information. | 33 charts
+ Conveniently, an excellent essay from Milton Packer on the question of whether peer-review has become nothing more than a game.
Fake cancer news
Part of the week was occupied with a report from the Jerusalem Post that a cure for cancer was imminent. Social media ran with it and even major news outlets fueled the flames. There are so many lessons to be learned by the media here. Matthew Herper brought the best perspective on Stat. I felt compelled to make the point that cancer is part of who we are. | 33 charts
Everything else
Peer-reviewed doodles
This journal has created a section for physician and patient drawings. “Drawing serves both artist and viewer. For the artist, drawing slows us down, helps us observe more closely. The viewer must also pause, think, examine, notice.” Valuing patient and physician art is a great way to begin to value patients and physicians. I’ll be submitting here. Been experimenting with and loving Procreate on my iPad Pro. | Journal of General Internal Medicine
+ In oddly related news, the American Medical Association is recommending pleasure reading to prevent burnout in doctors. References included. Others this week called for aburnout officer (apparently would office next to the Chief Wellness Officer) or cultural change to combat clinical fatigue.
Also Human
Caroline Elton is a London-based psychologist who helps doctors heal. Interesting QA that has me wondering if I should read her book, Also Human – The Inner Lives of Doctors. It was in my que but I opted-out after reading the reviews. If any of you read it and think I should read it, lemme know. I trust you. | New York Times
Imprecise medicine
If you want to throw a wet towel on that guy who’s always pushing the utopian future of precision medicine (I will neither confirm nor deny whether that guy is me), read this. In a ballast to the hyped promise of the genomic revolution, science writer Derek Lowe offers a well-referenced view in a confined space. | Science Translational Medicine
23andMe for dummies
The NYT editors have fashioned an explainer around the limitations of 23andme. It’s a brilliant example of health information design. You must check it out. I would have added the elephant-in-the-room problem with 23andMe: epigenetics. Having a gene tells you nothing about the environment in which it exists. Your ATGC configuration is only part of a more complicated story. | New York Times
+ Interesting Nature editorial on the surge in prenatal genomic testing that’s beginning to confront parents.
Should he stay or should he go
If you think being a doctor is easy, check out the gripping conflict faced by an ER physician when weighing the discharge of a homeless individual in sub-zero weather. Brown University writer Jay Baruch is an amazing voice. I love Stat, but wonder how it is that talent and writing like this doesn’t make the New York Times. | Stat
Neologism: Thingification
I didn’t know that thingification was a thing. This, from Euan Semple: The process of thingification (turning a useful idea into the latest thing and thereby rendering it useless) appears unstoppable. In the context of work it happened with collaboration, innovation, and creativity. It is even happening with disruption! | Stowe Boyd
+ While we’re on neologisms, the Lancet Commission on Obesity has announced that the world is suffering from a “syndemic” of obesity, undernutrition and climate change.
Science is much better together
Science loves its solitary geniuses. But scientific breakthroughs are more often born of synergistic collaboration rather than individual insight. Nice writing from the mind of Dhruv Khullar. (Paywall) | The Lancet
Overheard | Techno-Malthusian view of technology
“I take a techno-Malthusian view that our use of technology will always expand to the very edge of its capacity, so a thousand years from now, everyday technology will be just barely sufficient for the job.” | Kevin Kelly on Twitter
DotMD early-bird sold out
I gave you fair warning. The world’s most remarkable medical meeting which doubled its space this year in Galway sold out of early-bird tickets in just a matter of days. I suspect general sales will last only a matter of hours when tickets go live again on March 1 (if you’re on their mailing list) | DotMD
Digital exhaust
+ NSFW: A rectal toolkit for spies.
+ A bed that saves your life in an earthquake.
+ You can now buy a hospital room on Amazon.