Featherless Wings

an archive of what once was. there will be no more new posts here.

[academicssay]

[kikiavicenna]

Also, “you look too young to be a doctor” - it happens a lot.

[academicssay]

Great professors don’t teach content, they teach people.

[kikiavicenna]

Reblogging this again as self reminder.

[kikiavicenna]

After a lot of scuttlebutt

I’m a little surprised that this site is no longer blocked. (Reddit still is, however.) And finally, after 2 years of not looking back, I tried logging in.

A lot has changed since my last post I actually typed in during internship, and a lot has happened since. But most of all, I can say at least I’m on the way to something else, that I had always wanted back then, when I was only a medical student ranting and raving on this dusty old blog.

I might not return often, but I’m glad at least I still get to see science posts again here, even while a lot of the blogs I used to follow for frequent updates (including those of my close friends’) have gone dormant. (Anyway, the reason surrounding this site’s blockade was kind of ridiculous, considering humans will always find what they look for. I had always been here for science, literature, art, and interesting posts, and that was what I had always found. Other people might have different endeavors here, so be it, I suppose...)

Whatever it is, I have returned. Maybe not just to revisit. We shall see.

[colchrishadfield]

‪Wishing the crew better luck this time. Have a good launch! ‬ (at Baikonur Cosmodrome) https://www.instagram.com/p/Bu_NJClnKZw/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=u00yiawlyx99

[itsfullofstars]

CASSINI’S GRAND FINALE

Beginning April 26, 2017, Cassini will fly between Saturn and its rings 22 times before burning up in the planet’s atmosphere on September 15, 2017.

[currentsinbiology]

It may easily come to pass that a vain man may become proud and imagine himself pleasing to all when he is in reality a universal nuisance.

Baruch Spinoza It sure may. (via currentsinbiology)

Self reminder.

[kikiavicenna]

It's been months

since I even revisited this tumblelog of mine. Yeah, guess what: internship. I have kept my work and life rants to myself (or some folks I know and trust - yes, here's looking at you, @aulianoza, guess you hear my live work-rants the most) for the past 5 months, and the few more months beforehand where I rarely even show up? Oh, yes. So many administrative work. I still go sleepless at nights thinking about the future, as per usual. My "wings had not been fully fledged", if I were to borrow a Plautus quote, even after getting that small-case title that equates to an MD. But I figure, it might just be life, still going on, still making the insides of my head tick and think of what to prepare for, what to stand for, what to learn, and most importantly... how.

[dxmedicalstudent]

There are quite a few medically themed games out there, but are they true to life? If those of us who worked in healthcare designed games, I suspect they’d be a little different…

[dxmedstudent]

reblogged from my comic tumblr.

[kikiavicenna]

There's this game called Microbe Invader that I kept playing now and then. It's like Pokemon with microbes to battle and antibiotics as weapons. It even has grand rounds if we go to the conference hall at the correct timing.

[rasec-wizzlbang-blog]

[sciteachers]

#VaccinateYourFxckingKids

[thebeautifulcosmos]

Seemingly science fiction today, but this is a, hopefully, near term reality of life on Mars.

[protoslacker]

Death, of course, is not a failure. Death is normal. Death may be the enemy, but it is also the natural order of things.

Atul Gawande at Ideas.TED. Death and the Missing Piece of Medical School

Dying and death confront every new doctor and nurse. In this book excerpt, Atul Gawande asks: Why are we not trained to cope with mortality?

Excerpt: Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End (Amazon)

[lazyyogi]

Recognize that the very molecules that make up your body, the atoms that construct the molecules, are traceable to the crucibles that were once the centers of high mass stars that exploded their chemically rich guts into the galaxy, enriching pristine gas clouds with the chemistry of life. So that we are all connected to each other biologically, to the earth chemically, and to the rest of the universe atomically. That’s kinda cool! That makes me smile and I actually feel quite large at the end of that. It’s not that we are better than the universe, we are part of the universe. We are in the universe and the universe is in us.

Neil deGrasse Tyson (via mindblowingscience)

[scaleddrake]

when someone greets you by your name but you completely forget theirs and you don’t remember ever talking to them

[dxmedstudent]

It’s worse when you’re pretty sure they mist have been a patient…

[kikiavicenna]

Last year, a patient’s mother I met during Pediatrics rotation was immediately sure that I was the one assisting the child’s delivery a few months before. I wasn’t sure what to say and could only give a grin.

[sixpenceee]

[kikiavicenna]

On point with the beautiful day one!

[bottleoftonic-blog]

Most bang-for-buck things every intern should know before starting inpatient wards

Source. A collection of Meddit resources and advice on what bread-and-butter topics interns would most benefit from brushing up on/memorizing prior to the beginning of their internship. 1) Fluids. How and when to use them, dosage, timing and other pearls.

Review of fluids (not how to use them per se) by Dr. Strong /u/ericstrong

Maintenance Intravenous Fluids in Acutely Ill Patients - NEJM.

Pretty thorough review of fluid management on openanesthesia.org

2) Nausea. When to treat, how to treat and at what dose.

3) Standard pn orders: pain killers, sleep aids and antiemetics aka how to reduce nighttime calls from nurses by 25%

4) “Reflex” antibiotic choice for routine inpatient infections.

http://www.bpac.org.nz/Supplement/2013/July/antibiotics-guide.aspx /u/ChristianM and /u/ive_been_up_allnight

5) Initial work-up and treatment of dyspnea. (more realistic to approach by symptoms as, unfortunately, you first have to diagnose whats wrong. E.g. heart failure, pulmonary edema, embolism, COPD, pneumonia).

6) Initial work-up and treatment of oliguria/anuria.

7) A sensible initial approach to suspected ileus.

8) Blood. When, how, why to replace.

9) Pain. Optimal management without inducing narcosis.

Managing cancer pain: Frequently asked questions: CCJM

10) Potassium. When, why and how to shift or replace.

A review on both potassium and sodium disorders by Dr. Strong /u/ericstrong (Not reposted in 12) hyponatremia but applies there as well) https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLYojB5NEEakXVIAapcSEleP4doUdHVtld

11) Hyponatremia. Most common electrolyte disturbance, commonly mismanaged.

12) Resuscitation aka commit the ACLS algorithms to memory.

Current ACLS guidelines. https://www.acls.net/aclsalg.htm

Would love a video series, interactive cases etc.

13) Basic EKG interpretation.

Whole EKG video courses

A whole free youtube EKG video review course by meddit’s own u/ericstrong

An alternative EKG course that takes you through all the basics. This however has no free version and costs 96$ a year. The quality is amazing. Here are 6 basic sample videos on youtube. The paid course is available on http://www.ecgteacher.com/

I have to admit I haven’t used this course personally but his free youtube videos are on-point and he seems like a good teacher. Also behind paywall. Free youtube samples are here. The full course can be found here https://www.ecgacademy.com.

EKG video cases

Amazing case-of-the-week emergency medicine EKG videos on youtube by Dr. Amal Mattu

– If you like Dr. Mattu’s cases (and you most certainly will) he is still posting every single week on his new site https://ecgweekly.com. It costs 4 starbucks coffees a year and is going to save someones life.

Practice EKGs with answers

Watching videos isn’t enough, you still have to grind out EKGs to keep your game strong. Visit http://ecgmadesimple.com and http://ecg.bidmc.harvard.edu/maven/mavenmain.asp for this.

EKG blogs

I recommend signing up for some kind of RSS feed (e.g. https://feedly.com/) and subscribing to the following EKG blogs:

http://hqmeded-ecg.blogspot.is (Dr. Smiths ECG blog)

http://www.ems12lead.com

http://ecg-interpretation.blogspot.is

http://jhcedecg.blogspot.is

EKG resource libraries

Life in the fastlane has a nice resource to look up a specific EKG finding, criteria or concept.

http://www.practicalclinicalskills.com/ekg.aspx /u/collidge

14) Know when to order ABGs and how to interpret them.

Almost too detailed video lecture series on ABGs and how to interpret them by Dr. Eric Strong (/u/ericstrong)

Practice makes perfect. ABG interpretation generator. https://abg.ninja/abg

Bonus 15) Basic CXR interpretation

CXR video lecture course

Again, Dr. Eric Strong has an excellent video course for free on youtube

Step-by-step guides to basic CXR interpretation

The Radiology Assistant: Chest X-ray - Basic interpretation

Radiology Masterclass step-by-step basic CXR

University of Virginia’s step-by-step basic CXR

All inclusive resources

The art and science of thoracic imaging All inclusive resource for all things thoracic! Jokes aside amazing resource.

UPenns CXR learning website

Loyola Universities excellent CXR Atlas Most outdated look but amazing content.

Checklist approach to CXR

Bonus 16) Overnight o-shit-what’s-that Head CT interpretation

Midnight radiology: Emergency CT of the head

University of Virginia’s guide to the Head CT

[sothisisnursingschool]

Hey, self: review before NCLEX. Xo, me.

[md-admissions]

Oh hell yes

[populationpensive]

For future reference.

[doctorkintsugi]

Must. Study.

[kikiavicenna]

Life-savers for both doctors and patients.

[academicssay]

Academic motivation explained | @larstheyeti

[thepigeongazette]

The happy-saddest comic I’ve ever made. Haddest.

[kikiavicenna]

And with the car’s seat belt tightly hugging me, I’ll drive around. Stop by for hot coffee and buns. Sing along to my own mix of songs. Laugh and cry.

On my own.