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Rhubarb Diaries
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Thursday, 10 June 2010 19:41
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 The Rolling Stones once said that time is on my side. And the Grateful Dead made note, many years ago, of “what a long strange trip it’s been”. And somewhere in between the two reside my thoughts of the past few days.
It’s been a recurrent theme recently, that thing called “the passage of time”. Two distinct conversations this week brought this back to me in full, living color. And some very fond memories along with them. In the first, I had made a comment about how quickly the year 2010 was passing. Suddenly, I was thinking back to my younger days, telling my mother that it seemed like everything went by so slowly, that it was such a long time between birthdays. She told me that as I got older, time would go by faster and faster every day. I remember thinking that hey, she’s just an adult, what does she know? Of course, that’s the mindset when you’re younger. And now, I realize how prophetic her statement was. Suddenly, you turn around and another year is gone. Then five more. Then another decade. In the second, as I was teaching a class on clinical reasoning this week, I made the remark that it’s been 22 years since I graduated from Queen’s University. It seems like it was yesterday – though the calendar would remind me that it’s been 22 years ago last month. The still photo snapshot in my mind that is graduation suddenly fast forwards to a couple of years ago when I found myself celebrating my 20 year university reunion. Ah that wonderful time machine that lives inside our minds … |
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Monday, 26 March 2007 19:00
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A revolution in the world of health ... is needed. And it needs to start ... here ... and now.
Let's face it - as it stands right now, the current system of health care, injury prevention, and health promotion - faces some tremendous problems. From the provider side, if you are providing exemplary care you're no better off than if you provide average or outdated care. You don't get paid any more or less for the quality of your work. From the payor side, we're told that "well care" is covered - but this typically amounts to an annual check-up and not much else (if that). From the patient side - I may not want to partake in any of this because they (the powers that be) either aren't going to pay for it, or the cost is exhorbitant (without health insurance), or they're just going to tell me to rest and take some pills anyways. And from the health promotion side - well, good sound educational programs are hard to find and even harder to have reimbursed by a third party payor. |
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Monday, 05 March 2007 19:00
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The Ivory Tower of Academia. If you've been involved with the educational system in any way, shape, or form, you've at least seen it off in the distance. Perhaps you've occupied it's courtyard, or maybe even resided inside it's walls.
The Ivory Tower - is tarnished.
Last time I looked, academia and education were about teaching and learning. There is plenty of good research literature to indicate that adults learn primarily by interaction, by doing, by being actively involved in their own learning process. In effect, it is much the same way that children learn most effectively. As Bob Pike would say, adults are just babies with big bodies.
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Wednesday, 07 February 2007 16:37
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The talk of the town (in Anytown, USA) is "Evidence-Based Medicine". If you're in the health professions, I am sure you've become familiar with the phrase. The same holds for those in health insurance - and clinical research. "The evidence" is driving everything these days.
For the record - I am a true believer in the power of good clinical research. I do think that as clinicians we need to provide care based on true evidence-based medicine. We must hold ourselves to high standards of practice, and we must continue to challenge our thought processes and clinical reasoning skills - as uncomfortable a process as this may be. It involves reflection on our practice patterns and perhaps even challenging our belief systems - about our role in patient care or the methods we advocate.
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