Problems with Current State of Healthcare

So this guy seems to have the whole thing figured out. I wonder how accurate all this is, and if so, what the politics involved in making some changes to make ths system better.

http://www.upworthy.com/his-first-4-sentences-are-interesting-the-5th-blew-my-mind-and-made-me-a-little-sick-2?g=2&c=ufb1

Future of Fiber - Spider Silk - Medical Applications?

This is a very educational TED Talk about Spider Silk. 

-very interesting scientific topic (nerd alert!)

... And this is the newest Japanese Spider silk production company - Spiber, which is Japanese for "spider". Posted in July, 2013.












How will this impact Medicine? Spider silk can serve as a scaffolding for tissue growth, much like a glycosaminoglycans (GAGS), and illicits NO inflamatory response!! This makes it eligible for a lot of medical applications!
Having stronger fillaments for suturing possibly? For reinforcing/replacing ligamentous attachments to bone? To gently hold up your grandfathers underpants? Maybe, a better substitute in place of collagen-type tissues needing repair? Maybe it will be good for wrinkles?

The light weight, strength, and elasticity of this substance is incredible. It far exeeds the strength of Kevlar, and has elasticity to withhold stretch and trauma.  In any case, I for one, am excited to see yet another fascinating technology based entirely on Biology to enter modern society and for Medical application.

As seen here, the fiber itself is made up of proteins which fold in such a way that can create great elasticity and great strength due to the covalently bound peptide bonds.

Medical Science Can be so influential. With great elasticity comes great responsibility - Uncle Ben (or something like that).

Another Interesting Feild Of Medicine - Wilderness Medicine

It's something I always dreamed of doing. Combining my love for sports, outdoors, animals, and scuba diving with a career in medicine. This is my passion. Whether or not I can wrangle the competition for the few spots available in these programs... I will be praying to the FMG gods for this one.

Iphone Portable Ultrasound Adapter - Why are we still using expensive dinosaurs??

http://thatslikewhoa.com/the-smartphone-ultrasound-adapter/

This Mobile Phone Ultrasound Adapter has been a readity for over 2 years now. It is available only to medical professionals, but with something as harmless as ultrasound, I think this is something that can be available to the masses. This should be in every doctor's Toolbelt now-a-days... those clunky 100 pound 20 year old $40,000 machines clammering around the hospitals are an EMBARRASSMENT to modern medicine.

AM I RIGHT PEOPLE???! No wonder healthcare is so expensive. It's a no brainer, you can take video/picture, upload to the hospital's cloud, check your heart, your baby, your abdominal aneurysm at home for free!! You can text message the results to your doctor from anywhere! Let's upgrade medicine!!

3D Printing - The Future of Casting/Bone Repair - Technology is Coming people!! Medicine of the Future!

I am excited to be part of a generation where medicine will be completely overhauled to a streamlined, cheap, efficient, and customized business just for your body. Custom Skull Bone Replacements, Custom built casts that you can wear clothes over, take into the shower!!! No more skin infections! All of this is stylish, efficient, cheap, and extremely brilliant. Someone get me a job in this business! I am ALL the way for it. 

3D Printed Casts

Art meets Medicine - The future of prosthetics - Surgery

I could really see myself working with products like this.

Absolutely.

Should I go into medical school?... FIRST..read this.

FIRST!!! (and at the very least)
Shadow a real doctor in his practice. Now let me explain what I mean by shadow. I don't mean follow him around for a couple hours a week. I especially don't mean that. It is especially and only valuable if you do the following :

1. Ask questions. These should include... are you satisfied with your job? Is this the specialty you wanted to end up in? If you could do it again, would you? 
2. Of course ask the cookie cutter questions: what do you like best? what do you least like about medicine? What do you like about your specialty over others?
3. FOLLOW ACTIVELY. this basically means yes follow the doctor around, BUT the whole time your mind should be trying to sit in the drivers seat, in the role of the clinician. Why does he ask these questions? Why does he do this or that first? Why Why Why? And then at the end of a SHIFT, yes i actually recommend you stay for an entire shift... physical fatigue is a huge part of medicine... and paper work... then at the end, ask yourself can I do this every day of the week? or atleast as often as the MD works. (remember an attending has less hours than a resident)
4. Finally, ask what the doc does in his spare time for fun. HAHA you should get a laugh and maybe an answer to this. 

Secondly.... 

READ THIS ARTICLE. I wish I had. It is painfully honest. Not only the article, but the other articles mentioned, as well as the responses are carefully and tastefully chosen for a clear picture of the inner workings of what it is like to go into medicine. It touches on reasons you should NOT go to medical school. This is a time not only to consider medicine as a possible career and future for you, but also a time to re-prioritize your life. What do you hold most important? What are you willing to sacrafice? What are you willing to risk?

https://blogs.law.harvard.edu/abinazir/2005/05/23/why-you-should-not-go-to-medical-school-a-gleefully-biased-rant/

Finally.... Good Luck. 

Funnies 2 Laugh At

A new, young MD doing his residency in OB was quite embarrassed performing female pelvic exams. To cover his embarrassment he had unconsciously formed a habit of whistling softly. The middle aged lady upon whom he was performing this exam suddenly burst out laughing and further embarrassed him. He looked up from his work and sheepishly said, "I'm sorry. Was I tickling you?" She replied, "No doctor, but the song you were whistling was "I wish I was an Oscar Meyer Wiener."
--won't admit his name

Pulseless Heart - Life without a Heartbeat

"Over 1600 of these hearts have been implanted since 2003, helping patients to regulate blood flow to the rest of their body. Doctors at the Texas Heart Institute are now trying to find ways to completely replace the human heart. Their main concern is that the natural pumping function of a human heart may perform an important function. They are worried that this pumping function may prevent possible problems such as blood clots.
There are two major problems with current artificial hearts, and first is their size. The current artificial hearts are too big to be used in many people. While most of the people who need heart transplants have the body to fit them, they are just too big for younger adults and children. Since this new constant flow heart is so small in comparison, they would be able to accommodate a much larger range of people. The second problem is their functionality. The artificial hearts currently in production are mechanical, and often wear out after a few years, mainly due to mechanical failures."

I want to know more about this. No stasis would essentially eliminate cardiac thrombi, however, it may be true that the pulsations caused by the beating of the heart may be useful for driving blood and preventing thrombi in the peripheral vessels. What about shear stress like in mechanical heart valves that lead to anemia? And what about facilitating a surface for which bacteria in the blood can adhere? What about clogging of the device? How long do these devices last, and are they worth it? Maybe they are well enough for an intermediate fix between a biological heart transplant... Also, what about electrical fields, and are these people unable to get MRI's or defibrillator? Probably issues a problem there. Is there metal involved? It's also likely these devices will demonstrate a constant basal flow, but will not allow for the regulation of Blood pressure in the case of hemorrhagic, or fluid retention, or even exercise for that matter! The person will be essentially void of autonomic feedback mechanisms and have to adjust their activities. Finally, these are so large, can they fit in many people? I am certain smaller devices can be used. My god, can we really be able to replace the leading cause of death? Amazing...
Although, I think a much better solution would be to emphasize Preventative medicine and prevent the looming prevalence of heart disease in this country, instead of spending all this money trying to fix people in their terminal stages. These devices may be worth while in healthy, younger individuals with cardiac anomalies...


Heart Stop Beating | Jeremiah Zagar from Focus Forward Films on Vimeo.

Great Parody of Medical School

By some group called the Einstein class of 2014. Humble much? Anyway this is DEAD on and describes our school life pretty classic.

Kanye beat, Girl in a wig, Medical raps. gotta love it.

Motivational Quotes

There is so much power behind words of wisdom. It may take a few different readings to truly understand the significance of each one, or a life experience that helps you understand the true meaning, so don't look at them just once. Also, feel free to comment below.

“There are two rules for success. 1) Never tell everything you know.” Roger H. Lincoln

"I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.” Thomas Edison

“I honestly think it is better to be a failure at something you love than to be a success at something you hate.” George Burns

“Leadership is doing what is right when no one is watching.” George Van Valkenburg

“Leadership is the art of getting someone else to do something you want done because he wants to do it.” Dwight D. Eisenhower

The difference between a boss and a leader: a boss says, ‘Go!’ -a leader says, ‘Let’s go!’.” E. M. Kelly

“I am more afraid of an army of one hundred sheep led by a lion than an army of one hundred lions led by a sheep.” Charles Maurice

“A ship in harbor is safe. But that’s now what ships are built for.” William Shedd

“You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.” Wayne Gretzky

Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do.” Mark Twain

Ever notice how it’s a penny for your thoughts, yet you put in your two-cents? Someone is making a penny on the deal.” Steven Wright

"Catch a man a fish, feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, feed him for a lifetime." - Chinese proverb

“Catch a man a fish, and you can sell it to him. Teach a man to fish, and you ruin a wonderful business opportunity.” Karl Marx

“By working faithfully eight hours a day you may eventually get to be boss and work twelve hours a day.” Robert Frost

“Formal education will make you a living. Self education will make you a fortune.” Jim Rohn

“The greatest reward in becoming a millionaire is not the amount of money that you earn. It is the kind of person that you have to become to become a millionaire in the first place.” Jim Rohn

“Lend your friend $20. If he doesn’t pay you back then he’s not your friend. Money well spent.” Ted Nicolas

“Money and success don’t change people; they merely amplify what is already there.” Will Smith

An entrepreneur tends to bite off a little more than he can chew hoping he’ll quickly learn how to chew it.” Roy Ash

“Entrepreneurship is living a few years of your life like most people won’t, so that you can spend the rest of your life like most people can’t.” Anonymous

Not a single person whose name is worth remembering lived a life of ease.” Ryan P. Allis

A jade stone is useless before it is processed; a man is good-for-nothing until he is educated.” Chinese Proverb

“All cats love fish but fear to wet their paws.” Chinese Proverb

The surest way to corrupt a youth is to instruct him to hold in higher esteem those who think alike than those who think differently” –Friedrich Nietzsche

"When you don't get what you want, experience is what you get instead" - Me, amended from the Last Lecture (Randy Pausch)

Minimize your mistakes

Tennis is a great game. Half of the game you serve the ball, the other half, your opponent serves.

That means, even if you are the best tennis player in the world, but can't serve, you can only win 50% of the time. It is impossible to win. You must learn to serve.

Now, say you learn to serve well consistently, 100% of the time, but are a terrible player. Even if you win all of your serves, you can only win 50% of the game. You will have to win some of your opponents serves in order to win the match.

Now your ability comes into play. You have to learn to win points with your ability and minimize your own faults.

Okay, so you learned to serve consistently, learned to play well and minimized your own mistakes... now what? You need a worthy opponent to gauge your performance.

Another way to look at it is, if you play well, but your opponent makes many mistakes... are you a good player? Well, its hard to say, you didn't earn those points, your opponent merely handed them to you by his own faults. Remember your opponent can still give you 50% of the points if he can't serve. So here you are, no better than you were before you started, still only 50%.

You must find a worthy opponent. The only way to truly gauge your performance is when mistakes are low, both yours and your opponents. What's left is your ability vs theirs.

When playing against the USMLE, the test will make no mistakes. That means you really have to be on top of your game. The only way to win is to be consistent, train your abilities, and make as few careless mistakes as possible. That way, you will be able to perform your best. If still you fail, knowing you have made no mistakes at all, then that is what is called Truely Trying Your Best.

Inspiration to Stay Focused

Music Therapy - Another Jubilee Project video - Touching, and From my Alma Mater!