Some kind of fruit company

One of the other articles I liked in this mornings paper was one by Hugo Rifkind. Jobs or no Jobs, that Apple culture really makes me shudder

Don't know if you caught it, but highlights the discreet evilness of apple. I'll quote some of the last few column inches.

""Being the richest man in the cemetery doesn't matter to me" is another fine Jobs quote, also in reference to Gates. "Going to bed at night saying we've done something wonderful," he continues, "that's what matters to me."

This was a comment made before Gates started pouring his money into vaccinations, obviously. Still, there's something about it that goes right to the heart of why the Apple cult makes me shudder.

These are phones and computers we're talking about. Trinkets and things. Is it right that our wonder should be so lightly spent?

Well, maybe. And maybe, in a world where information saves lives just as much as vaccinations do, inventing something like the iPhone is, indeed, doing something wonderful in every sense. But buying one isn't. I'm not sure for how much longer Apple will get away with blurring the two."

You can check the whole article out here

Maaaate

It's official! I'm an idiot! (argh)

On the plus side we get to defibrillate a manikin on Wednesday. Joy.

Doctors In Training!

Had a hilarious practical tute today. They were teaching us 'injection techniques.' There was a group of nine of us, two of whom were already needle veterans. So for all intents and purposes there were seven novices. I shall include myself as a beginner as I've only ever given injections to mice.

It was all going well, only one needle stick. But then they let us practice opening the glass ampoules. These are little glass vials, that are really good for keeping drugs stable. They also have the added benefit that you have to crack the top off of them as there is no lid. Hence you can't exactly steal the morphine inside.

They are however tricky to open. This was evidenced by the two people in my tute group who managed to cut themselves while breaking the tops off. Nothing overly bad, but somewhat amusing that the most hazard part of the morning came from the package rather than the needle.

On the plus side we got to immunise some faux skin covered sponges. They were very grateful and are now fully vaccinated against saline.

Another thing on the list of things I can't wait to try on actual people!

Leonard Lilly, my one and only

Trying to learn the basics of cardiology in one month is a bit of a nutty task. It's really interesting material though.

I think I've pretty much read the whole cardiology text now. It's all too much though, I don't think I've taken anything on board!

Actually, another one of our imaginary patients died. She had a heart attack, and was recovering in hospital when she blew a papillary muscle in her damaged heart and died within an hour or so. I was telling Dr. Dad the story of our fictitious patient, when he recalled his own version.

A patient, several days post MI; Rapid onset shortness of breath and a new onset systolic murmur. Dad diagnosed the same condition and the patient met the same fate. Crazy to think these things you learn about actually happen. I'm clearly not mentally ready to be on the wards with peoples lives in my hands. As I told someone today 'I have just enough knowledge to kill someone, but not enough to save them.'

On another note, I forget Dad was a once a young doctor cruising the wards! The perks of being the boss I guess ;)

Normal tension

We're learning about hearts. So far I've picked up a bit. But it has pandered to my medical student hypochondriacness. But that's okay, because other people hear my non-existant systolic noise as well. Who would have thought three first years putting their heads together could be wrong!

Anyway, as you may have inferred from the title, I finally got my results back about my hypertension. It's coatyness is as white as the pure driven snow. It turns out I'm just easily excited. If I was a doctor I'd give myself some beta blockers and mellow the heck out.