The Medical Media Review
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Human Metabolism: A Regulatory Perspective (2019)
Metabolism is commonly taught in medical schools as a subcategory of biochemistry. While technically correct, metabolism has additional unique and important dimensions that must be understood and committed to memory, including the organs and organelles where the reactions take place. You don’t just need to know what is happening but you also need to understand…
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The Malformed Infant and Child: An Illustrated Guide (1983)
The Malformed Infant and Child: An Illustrated Guide (1983) is one of the finest medical books ever written. It is as unique and relevant today as it was when it was first published more than 35 years ago. The book contains monographs with exquisitely accurate and informative drawings of various congenital malformations including environmental (toxic)…
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How tax-exemption for employer-sponsored health insurance is destroying the US health care system
In the United States, employees do not have to pay payroll or income taxes on employee-sponsored health insurance benefits, a policy that is destroying that is destroying the US health care system because: It abandons the people who need health insurance most: if you become too sick to work, you will lose your employer-provided health…
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Shared Decision Making – A Once-Sacred Cow that Should be Put Out to Pasture
The physician-patient relationship is not a partnership wherein which the parties should strive to reach an outcome that best suits the interests of the partners. Rather, the physician-patient relationship represents an ethically and legally recognized fiduciary relationship wherein one party (the physician) is charged with looking after the health care interests of the other (the…
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Moffet’s Pediatric Infectious Diseases, 5e (2017)
I write with reverence about what I believe to be one of the best medical books of all time: Moffet’s Pediatric Infectious Diseases, 5e (2017). The main problem with tackling infectious diseases from a diagnostic standpoint is that ID can be hard to classify clinically. The traditional approach is, basically, to ask the question Does the patient have…
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Simple steps to calming agitated patients
Approach in a disarming manner (empty-handed, measured pace, respects for physical and psychological space, judicious use of eye contact). Identify yourself fully, including your name and title. Demonstrate benevolent intent (“How can I help you?”). Clearly articulate your own and your team’s goals with regard to the situation (“My job is to help you” +/- “We…
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The Most Important Residency Interview Questions and How to Answer Them
Introduction You will be asked many or most of the following prototypical questions during your residency interview. Practice these questions and your answers to them well, preferably with the help of a medical professional as a mock interviewer. The suggested answers won’t work for everyone. What might come across as genuine for one person could seem…
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