Welcome to Ward 10

Farewell to the old guard and welcome to the new batch. Get ready to gorge yourself on fruit from the tree of knowledge.

This blog will be a reminder of your training assignments each week. In addition to your usual training there are two recurring assignments:

Two minute presentations

You will give a two minute presentation to the team each Friday. The topic for your talk each week will be recorded here. The aim is to enlighten yourself and your colleagues about the subject. You are only allowed two minutes (we have a timer) so don’t waste time waffling about why you chose to talk about the subject, just get down to it. This is a difficult task but not impossible, many have done it before you. The sources of your information should be mentioned. An A4 size handout is encouraged. Have a look at this example... Anaphylaxis by Dr Hannah Gunn, or this slightly busier one on aspiration pneumonia by YT. The talk is more important than the handout so use your time appropriately.

Read and think

There is a paper to read each week. These are to stimulate discussion so read them in good time so you have time to think before we discuss them on Tuesdays.

You will be given timetables for wardrounds, clinics etc when you arrive.

The read and think for next week will be

A Necessary Inhumanity? Ruth Richardson. Journal of Medical Ethics 2000;26;104-106

You should be able to get the PDF using your Athens password.

MJM

Wardround 29vi7

Our two minute talks this week were about endocrine disorders, specifically the clinical features of hypoadrenalism, hypothyroidism and hyperprolactinaemia. This has stimulated me to be more aware of prolactin levels in my patients with unexplained symtoms.

For next week we will be focussing on the eye with topics of the sore/red eye, visual loss and diplopia. So two minutes please on the work up and management of patients with these common problems.

The reading for next week will be Does This Patient Have Temporal Arteritis? Smetana and Shmerling. JAMA.2002; 287: 92-101. Get it via the elibrary. Hopefully we can start the meeting on time and be able to discuss the paper this time.

Interesting topics
Miller-Fisher Syndrome

And for those who fancy a trip to the real library, why not have a look at An unusual variant of acute idiopathic polyneuritis (syndrome of ophthalmolplegia, ataxia and areflexia). M Fisher:
New England Journal of Medicine, 1956, 255: 57-65.

MJM