Friday, January 25, 2008

Wardround 25i8


Our discussion this week was about ethics. The use of jokes which might offend, open-ness with patients, harrassment, ethics committees, politics and medicine all had their moment. It can be helpful to think out loud. For next week the discussion will be about the ethics of offering or declining transplantation to a patient with several co-morbid conditions and difficulty adhering to established models of care.

You will have an opinion (that’s an order). But why do you have that opinion? Can you see why others may have a different opinion? Who is right? How can you best structure the problem for analysis? Would an ethics committee help? How? How can you recognise whether you are virtuous (in your decision) or lacking both virtue and insight?

The two minute talks this week were about urinary tract infections. I hope you have learnt about the subject and your methods of research. Did you ask ‘why?’ when you should have done?

Next week is microbiology. You get a phone call from bacteriology. The blood culture is positive for: G+R (MG), G-R (NS), G+C (SZ), G-C (CG). You have been given a little background to work on. So what do you want to know? Each result should ring some bells of recognition and some alarms. Give the group two minutes on your case.

Interesting topics

Pernicious anaemia

Behcet’s and thalidomide


MJM

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