A 74 year old man is brought to your Emergency Department after three days of persistent vomiting…Describe and interpret his investigations
MedTing Collaborative Learning
May 27, 2009 By Leave a Comment
MEDTING is a free online MEDical MeeTING and Exchange platform where registered medical practitioners can publish and share medical content. Users can create clinical cases, upload images and videos. Currently there are 2336 cases to read and 29203 images and videos to view. MedTing is a great online resource to share and discuss clinical images [...]
FACEM Fellowship Exam 2009.1 VAQ
May 25, 2009 By Leave a Comment
The team at Life in the Fast Lane are developing a FACEM Fellowship examination assistance package. In the first instance we will be describing the Fellowship curriculum; reviewing the recommended reading and providing annotated examples of past Visual Aid Questions [VAQ]. Each year there are two sittings of the Fellowship examination. Here is the 2009.1 [...]
De testimonio
May 22, 2009 By 2 Comments
I recently discovered the online slideshow (with audio) version of Professor Sir Michael Rawlins’ 2008 Harveian Oration titled “De testimonio: On the evidence for decisions about the use of therapeutic interventions”.
Now, I’ve nodded off in more than my share of lectures on medical statistics and clinical trials, so believe me when I claim that this lecture is FANTASTIC. This lecture is a must for anyone interested in the evidence base of medicine and the problems (and future) of medical research.
A Midsummer Night’s Dream
May 21, 2009 By Leave a Comment
Nick Bottom: “I’ll speak in a monstrous little voice.” – from Act 1, Scene ii of A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare (~1596). One day, as a trainee doctor working in rural Zambia, I walked through the gates of the hospital to be greeted by what seemed to be the “eeyore-ing” of a demonic [...]
Cochrane's most popular
May 21, 2009 By Leave a Comment
Cough or kill
May 21, 2009 By 2 Comments
I am a belligerent skeptic of over-the-counter cough and cold medications. I’ve been this way since well before I ever entertained the idea of being a doctor. The late Michael Shannon (also known as the ‘dancing doctor‘) nicely summed up the problems with this group of medications: ‘The problem with cough and cold medications are [...]
Syphilis prior to penicillin
May 17, 2009 By Leave a Comment
“Know syphilis in all its manifestations and relations, and all other things clinical will be added unto you.” – Sir William Osler from ‘Bean WB. Sir William Osler: Aphorisms from His Bedside Teachings and Writings; 1968′ American poet James L. White‘s first career was as a ballet dancer. Following this he studied English literature before [...]
A Spider called Willis
May 15, 2009 By 2 Comments
A ferocious spider lives in the brain. His name is Willis!
More brainstem lesions
May 14, 2009 By 1 Comment
Neurological Mind-boggler 004 Even more scenarios designed to test drive Gates’ Brainstem Rules of 4 (helpful figures here): Scenario 5 You are examining a patient with sudden onset right-sided weakness. These are your clinical examination findings: weakness of the right face, upper and lower limbs. failure of abduction of the left eye. loss of vibration [...]
