During its revered white coat ceremony last week The University of California Irvine School of Medicine gave Butterfly iQ pocket ultrasound devices to its medical students. The future, it seems, belongs to POCUS (point of care ultrasound). Twitter lit up. Social sentiment pinned the Butterfly iQ as the new stethoscope. Every armchair futurist was over the ... Continue Reading about Butterfly iQ Moments – Should Med Students Have a POCUS?
Potty Mouth Doctors and the Emerging Value of Outrage
It’s interesting how the use of social media by physicians has changed as it relates to risk and professionalism. In the earliest days doctors either didn’t use social media or they mitigated risk through anonymous profiles. Even now, the core goal for many physicians dipping their toes in the public conversation is to first avoid getting in trouble. The rise of ... Continue Reading about Potty Mouth Doctors and the Emerging Value of Outrage
The Physician and the Health Docent
Last week STAT First Opinion carried the story of a young woman who learned of her BRCA1 (mutation predisposing to breast cancer) mutation on a 23andMe report. She describes the experience of processing that explosive bit of information in the isolation of her own mind and information network. Contrasting this experience with the confirmation of her status with a ... Continue Reading about The Physician and the Health Docent
Non-Place in Health Care
Amber Case got me thinking with this brief essay on the non-place. Briefly defined, non-places are urban or industrial spaces where personhood is put on pause. And they’re everywhere, from airports, highways and chain supermarkets, to narrow, suffocating, condo-filled streets — the in-between spaces where people are without relation or history. In a ... Continue Reading about Non-Place in Health Care
Have We Hit Peak Podcast?
This is from the New York Times this morning. Have We Hit Peak Podcast? It’s no wonder that the phrase “everyone has a podcast” has become a Twitter punch line. Like the blogs of yore, podcasts — with their combination of sleek high tech and cozy, retro low — are today’s de rigueur medium, seemingly adopted by every entrepreneur, freelancer, self-proclaimed ... Continue Reading about Have We Hit Peak Podcast?
Omega Speedmaster and the Human Experience
This is a pull quote from an Atlantic article discussing Buzz Aldrin’s Omega Speedmaster watch that he wore on the moon. This very watch worn by Aldrin is available today in its original form. This quote stuck with me. ... In other words, the Speedmaster and watches like it provide a sense of permanence in an age with little of it. The Speedmaster available ... Continue Reading about Omega Speedmaster and the Human Experience