I walked around the office today with a little extra spring in my step. It felt really good to be a doctor this day. So when good sensations come, I always look back on why they happened. (Like cyclists do when they have really good legs. Maybe it was that bee pollen?) But like having […]
Category: Doctoring
As a passionate cyclist, I really like it when someone asks for bike advice. Cycling is something I know a lot about–though probably not as much as Sal Khan. Recently, a spin class enthusiast who was considering making the gigantic leap to outdoor cycling asked me whether it’s worth spending extra dollars on a super-light […]
My quest for low inflammation hit a speed bump recently. Usually patients uplift me. But… How would you have reacted if a patient asked you to write a prescription for aspirin? You might answer as I did: aspirin is available over the counter, and at very low cost. …“But if you write a prescription the […]
More than a year ago, I wrote about the amazing educator, Sal Khan. His website, KhanAcademy, has become an educational behemoth. Using colorful and warmly narrated ten-minute YouTube videos, Sal explains–with breathtaking clarity–almost everything you might want or need to know. He made me grin about re-learning how to do a derivative. He even personally […]
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Trying our hand at research
In a classroom, when you are passionate about something, it seems natural to raise your hand and ask a question, or make a comment. That’s how we feel about AF ablation in our EP lab. And it is amazing what can be learned when you actually look back at your past clinical data. What you […]
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Perfectionism…
“Perfectionism is the voice of oppressor, the enemy of the people. It will keep you cramped and insane your whole life… …I think perfectionism is based on the obsessive belief that if you run carefully enough, hitting each stepping stone just right, you won’t have to die. The truth is that you will die anyway […]
HCPLive , an online, medical news site tweeted this question: If you had the president’s ear for fifteen minutes, what would you say to him about the current state of our health care system? Ok then. This is a good one. You can just type it out free lance–for fun and all, snark-free, with a […]
Largesse: (Form thefreedictionary.com): 1. a. Liberality in bestowing gifts, especially in a lofty or condescending manner. b. Money or gifts bestowed. 2. Generosity of spirit or attitude. Two days into last week’s Heart Rhythm Society meeting, Propublica, an independent online investigative journalism-in-the-public-interest endeavor published a series of high profile articles as part of their Dollars […]
Guess what made the heart rhythm news wire yesterday? It wasn’t a new medicine, or a new stent, not even a new ablation catheter, and, it surely wasn’t a revolution in motivating people to exercise. It was words. Rhetoric… It seems that one man, Dr John Wilson, read all of the major ICD trials, dating […]
Recently, while writing a note on a hospital chart, I overheard a patient and their family scolding the nursing staff. Inflammation always peaks my interest. Somehow, it soothes me when I’m not involved. After the ruckus calmed, I asked the nurse what all that was about. “Oh, Dr Mandrola, this patient is so hard to […]
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Grand Rounds is up.
Jackie Fox, at her blog Dispatch from Second Base, is the curator of this week’s gathering of medical blog entires. She maintains a nicely written, informative blog that meshes breast cancer, gratitude, humor and life. That’s a full pot of soup, for sure. Medical grand rounds doesn’t always have a theme, but this week it […]