Thursday, March 11, 2010
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
I am engaged to Psychiatry! #medtweeps #psychiatry
Surprised by the title of the post? Well, dont be startled..Choosing a medical specialty in India can be likened to an arranged Indian marriage. Recently i cracked two entrance examinations for getting into postgraduate medical education. During the process of choosing a specialty i found out some really interesting similarities between the process of choosing a career and an Indian marriage.
In India you just cant go and marry the girl you love, you will get ostracized. Although the scenario has changed at many places because of better education and awareness, it is still rampant. So, before you want to marry a girl, your parents should like her and agree. Not only that, all the close relatives must give a nod too. Its only after this that a happy arranged marriage takes place.
Now, medical education...The only doctors that lay people respect here are surgeons and physicians(internal medicine). Or should i say people know only these two. Branches like biochemistry, physiology, pharmacology, pathology and few other para-clinical specialities are totally unheard of. People specializing in these branches are seen as lab technicians. And anesthetists, many people dont know there is a speciality like that. They stay behind masks in the operation theater and totally get unnoticed! Pathetic! So parents tend to force their children into either surgery or internal medicine. Because they want everyone to know that their son/ daughter has gone on to become a great doctor and not just a pathologist or a microbiologist. With the increasing competition in India for post-graduate education, this situation leads to lot of stress on young doctors.
And coming to the specialty i chose in first round of counseling, Psychiatry..The word itself raises many eyebrows! The moment you say i have chosen MD Psychiatry, people say 'Really?' 'Are you sure?' 'Why psychiatry?, Didn't you have any other branch?' 'Psychiatrists have the highest suicide rates!' 'You want to treat insane people all your life?'(Reminds me of the quote "No one is sane!" lols) 'Have you thought about the Countertransference?' (Countertransference is defined as redirection of a psychotherapist's feelings toward a client or, more generally, as a therapist's emotional entanglement with a client. It is the entire body of feelings that the therapist has toward the patient, and also includes cases where the therapist literally takes on the suffering of his/her patient.) The list of startled expressions and pityful statements goes on and on..
To me, Psychiatry gives the opportunity where one person reveals to another his or her innermost concerns, in hope of healing. It creates a relationship, where we earn our patients' trust, and are privileged to learn about fears and worries that our patients may not have shared—or ever will share—with another living soul!
So in India, you just cant choose a specialty because you love it. Parents and relatives should be proud to tell that you are specializing in something, you should choose such a specialty. The situation gets even complicated if one is already married or have a partner. And only after all this dreary process, you can be brave enough to choose a specialty that you love or just compromise with something that everyone else wants you to be!
(Is this the fate of doctors in other countries too?Please give opiniions in comments)
(P.S - I would have put the title of post as 'married to psychiatry'...but there is a second round of counseling, in which i may choose internal medicine which has been my first preferrence, second is psychiatry..so for time being, I am engaged to psychiatry!)
Friday, December 25, 2009
Christmas and Medicine...Merry Christmas to all! #medtweeps #christmas
Christmas is in the air! I was just wondering how Christmas relates to medicine...Sounds crazy!! But I ended up getting this, an eponymously named disease, clinical signs, radiological signs, a connection to toxicology and few other interesting stuff which is related to Christmas.....Post any further additions to the list in comments..
Christmas disease- aka hemophilia B...Is a blood clotting disorder caused by a mutation of the Factor IX gene, leading to a deficiency of Factor IX(Christmas factor). It is the less common form of haemophilia, rarer than haemophilia A. It has nothing to do with Christmas though, it is called Christmas disease after Stephen Christmas, the first patient described with this disease.
Christmas tree pattern- Seen in Pityriasis Rosea a scaling dermatological disorder, characterized by often widespread papulosquamous, hyperpigmented, scaling lesions that develop a "Christmas tree" pattern on the back.
Christmas tree deformity- A radiological sign seen sometimes in Intestinal atresia..In over 10% of patients with intestinal atresia the mesentery is absent, and the superior mesenteric artery cannot be identified beyond the origin of the right colic and ileocolic arteries. The ileum coils around one of these two arteries, giving rise to the so-called Christmas tree deformity on contrast radiographs.
CO toxicity from leaking electric Christmas tree lights -CO toxicity has also been reported as a result of inhaling methyl chloride vapor, which is a component of paint stripping solutions, or from leaking "bubble" electric Christmas tree lights
Tropical Sporotrichosis is common in those involved in Christmas tree farming- Sporotrichosis is a subacute or chronic subcutaneous infection caused by the fungus Sporothrix schenckii.Diagnosis should be considered when a cutaneous lesion is found on a patient involved with Christmas tree farming, landscaping, rose gardening, berry picking, baling of hay, and in veterinarians.
Saturday, December 19, 2009
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
Newly approved drugs(FDA November-December 2009)
Romidepsin- Histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitor indicated the treatment of cutaneous T-cell lymphoma.Romidepsin is a natural product obtained from the bacteria Chromobacterium violaceum.
Wilate- a von Willebrand Factor/Coagulation Factor VIII Complex (Human) indicated for the treatment of spontaneous and trauma-induced bleeding episodes in patients with severe von Willebrand disease (VWD).
Ecallantide- Plasma kallikrein inhibitor indicated for treatment of acute attacks of hereditary angioedema in patients 16 years of age and older.
Source- www.drugs.com
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
Thursday, November 5, 2009
Young male presented with history of cough and hemoptysis.Connect the two images and give the diagnosis.
Correlate history with the histopath specimen and Chest X-ray and give the diagnosis..
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Newly approved drugs(FDA September-October 2009)
- Here are some newly approved drugs, vaccines and some new indications for old drugs.
and cervical cancer associated with oncogenic human papillomavirus
(HPV) types 16 and 18 in girls and young women (aged 10-25)
Source- www.drugs.com
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Histopathological picture of mature Ovarian cystic teratoma-Identify what the arrow is pointing at (#quiz #medtweeps)
This is a histopathological slide of a biopsy from Mature Ovarian cytic teratoma from a young female. Identify what the arrow is pointing at.
Saturday, October 24, 2009
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Identify the abnormality and give the diagnosis-Hematology
Identify the abnormality in the picture.Give the diagnosis.This patient was asymptomatic and this abnormality was found on routine blood work-up.What is the next line of management?
Sunday, October 18, 2009
Identify what the arrow is pointing at in this plain abdominal radiograph.
This is a plain abdominal radiograph of an elderly man who presented with acute onset abdominal pain.Identify what the arrow is pointing at and give the differential diagnosis.
Click on the image to get the whole, clear picture.Image too big to fit in some computers with low resolution modes.