Thoughts for the day

Sitting in my dirty scrubs, too tired to get a cup of fresh brewed coffee, I wonder why I have not done more with this blog.

Reading the facebook news, I see an Eleanor Roosevelt quote, "When will our consciences grow so tender that we work to prevent human misery rather than to avenge it."

Four years ago I felt I could change a lot.

This morning, I feel the only thing that has changed is me.

An extra hour

Well, I have managed to stretch the extra hour from falling back into three.  I have been assisted by the fact that this is the first morning in eight that I wasn't at work or going to work.  Seven days of twenty four hour every other day shifts cannot be healthy but that is not what I have been contemplating this morning.

I began by updating my facebook time line.  I know, everyone else did that three years ago but it is the reason I found the next activity, which was watching Jonathan Haidt (http://www.ted.com/talks/jonathan_haidt_on_the_moral_mind.html).  Also, I am not very good at writing on my iPad via facebook.

Anyway, I am now going to enjoy some of this glorious weather with a walk.  This is the day I will be thankful for not only this hour but all the hours in it.

'Modern' Medicine

I haven't written here in awhile.  It is not that I haven't written.  The reason for my absence is job related and I really cannot get into that story at this time.  Yet, I need a place to keep all my thoughts about medicine, the practice of it, and what it is like to be a physician in this time we call postmodernism. 

Take my father's stay in the rehabilitation facility for instance.  (I will write about his admission to the hospital in another post.)  He has been here now for a little over a week.  I must say, I have seen real progress.  But last night they restarted his the intraveneous fluids that he needed two weeks ago.

I was shocked when I came in this morning.  He ate and drank yesterday better than he has in over two weeks.  When I ask, I was told his creatinine is elevated.  Yes, it is.  It has been for TEN YEARS.  We have gone to the same hospital system for the past two years.  I have discussed this elevation with nine different physicians.  I have discussed it twice with his current admitting physician. But the tenth doctor was on call last night when someone notice the blood work which was drawn 12 hours before.  So the pearl for the day?  The electronic medical record is only valuable when someone reads it.