Cast & Curious

Author: Remo Aguilar

  • Updates on The Blog Rounds and Medical Blogging Summit

    Boredom, is one thing I hate from being “incapacitated” by –itises of some sort. During these times, watching reruns on DVD and teevee is hatefully irritating!

    I am a person who can’t settle down longer than one minute without doing something. And if there is something that would kill me, it’s boredom rather than the disease!

    But, enough for that whining and ranting. Lets get back to blogging.

    First, I missed TBR. This twice monthly grand rounds in the medical blogosphere went into hibernation for two weeks. I lost track of assigning a host blogger.No host, ergo no rounds. My apologies to all TBR bloggers and readers.

    Starting this week, TBR hosting will go on it’s second round, with Prudence MD volunteering to host the coming week’s TBR rounds. The succeeding hosting schedule will follow the cascading schedules as of before. I will post the schedule inTBR archives sections soon. Hopefully, this will all be a relaxed schedule since TBR is published online every two weeks now rather than weekly.

    I’m still pushing through with the Medical Blogging Summit and the organizing committee that will brainstorm on it. I need volunteers for the org comm and I have approached some TBR bloggers actually via emails and comments. As Ive said before, we can have a mini i-ball in Manila this late August or early September (around WordCamp time) to lay the ground work for the medical blogging summit. For those who wanted to join the org comm please email me or leave comments on my post so I can get your details and phone number.

    I think that’s all what my left hand can type for now!

  • Oh well, it hurts!

    Whew! It’s been almost two weeks that I’ve been away from blogging because of a nagging “tennis elbow”or Lateral Epicondylitis. Nope, I don’t play lawn tennis now. I got this overuse injury from playing badminton using a wrong grip-weak-extensor muscle-backhand clear. (Sounds greek to most of you but you can read my full account here) This was further exacerbated by hours keyboard pounding and net surfing. I should have known better, being an orthopod myself.Hah!

    I hope I’ll have a faster recovery process and it’s kinda hard blogging and typing with only your left hand!

  • Diamonds in the Rough:National Search for Young Doctors in the Community Setting

    It is a search for unsung heroes in the medical field today: those who choose to serve the ones who need it most, by immersing themselves in the depressed, neglected, under-served communities in the country.

    Of unsung heroes we have a thousand of them…Of Filipino doctors serving the community, they are our “Diamonds in the Rough”.

    Honoring these unsung heroes does not only give due credit to the “doctor behind the rough”. More importantly, it gives glory to the very essence to which these doctors chose to live their lives- serving the often neglected communities in the Philippines.

    That’s why on its 75th year, the Phi Kappa Mu Fraternity, in its search for EXCELLENCE in the realm of community service launches “Diamonds in the Rough”, the national search for outstanding young community doctors in the community setting.

    Here is an excerpt of the mechanics, lifted with permission from the Diamonds in the Rough National Search website. (You can view all the details of the search from this website.)

    MECHANICS

    Award Categories
    There are three major Award Categories: Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao. These categories correspond to geographical locations of physicians who can be in communities with substandard qualities of life and very minimal resources for health care throughout the Philippines.

    Eligibility
    In order to be eligible for the award, the nominee must:

    1. Be a Filipino citizen 40 years old and below
    2. Be a duly licensed medical practitioner under the Professional Regulatory Commission of the Philippines
    3. Have actively served in the under-served community for which he is nominated for at least five (5) years
    4. Be currently practicing in the said community
    5. Not have been recognized by any award-giving body with similar objectives
    6. Not have been charged with any misconduct involving moral turpitude
    7. Not be related to any members of the Phi Kappa Mu or its partner agencies up to the 2nd degree

    Nomination Process
    Any individual, NGO, LGU or any organization based in the Philippines is eligible to nominate. Nominations may be made with or without the consent of the nominee. Requirements for nomination are as follows:

    1. Duly accomplished official application form. This form is available for download in http://diamondsintherough.ph.
    2. Pertinent documents including but not limited to testimonials, citations, commendations and other documents in support of the nominee.
    3. Written profile of the community in terms of location, demographics, and other information regarding the community.

    SENDING ENTRIES
    All nominations are to be submitted to the DITR Screening Committee, addressed to the DITR Secretariat. You can also submit your nominations to the Salamat Dok Current Affairs and News Office.

    Alvin Anthony P. Anastacio
    Unit 35 F2 One Adriatico Place
    Adriatico St. Ermita, Manila
    Philippines

    Salamat Dok: Current Affairs and News Office, Ground Floor,
    ABS-CBN Sgt. Esguerra Corner,
    Mother Ignacia Avenue, Quezon City

    Nominations can be directly sent to info[at]diamondsintherough[dot]ph or diamondsintheroughsearch[at]gmail[dot]com, with all pertinent documents scanned.

    All entries must be received by Phi Kappa Mu in the UP College of Medicine or any of our partner agencies on or before November 15, 2008.

    FINALISTS and WINNERS
    Diamonds in the Rough will have 9 finalists (three each from Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao) selected by the DITR Screening Committee. The 9 finalists will be elevated to the Final Evaluation Committee who will select three winners of the Diamonds in the Rough Search (one from Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao).

    FINAL EVALUATION COMMITTEE
    The DITR Final Evaluation Committee will be composed of multi-sectoral representatives selected by the Phi Kappa Mu and its partner agencies.

    The finalists would be subjected to an intensive evaluation by the DITR Final Evaluation committee. This may involve on-site evaluation, gathering of testimonials, data gathering, authentication and evaluation of submitted documents. The final evaluation committee to ensure the impartial selection of the 3 Diamonds in the Rough winners.

    CRITERIA
    The Diamonds in the Rough criteria focuses on the doctor and his community.

    I.The doctor should be a man of integrity committed to selfless service to others in need. He should have made a significant impact on his community through his passion and dedication. He should be an effective leader and community organizer.

    II.The community will be evaluated based on its location, accessibility, and the availability of medical resources. The community should also have worked hand in hand with the doctor in initiating progressive change in the health and well-being of their shared community.

    The DITR Final Evaluation Committee will actively interpret the principles above and determine the final criteria for the final three winners of the Diamonds in the Rough.

    PRIZES and AWARDING
    Each of the 3 winners will receive PhP100,000 worth of total prizes. The community of the DITR winner will also receive PhP100,000 worth of prizes, to go to projects supported by the DITR winner. Awarding will be held on December of 2008.

    For Questions and Inquiries, you can contact the DITR Secretariat, Alvin Anastacio through e-mail info[at]diamondsintherough[dot]ph or through gmail[at] diamondsintheroughsearch[at]mail[dot]com or mobile phone 09162156336.

  • Praying before undergoing a heart surgery?Think again.

    Okay, this one really is stretching man’s EBM-ish about any form of health care treatment. Trying to determine if prayer is a factor for patient’s recovery is one very interesting study to make, even on patients undergoing heart surgery! Here’s the abstract of one such study taken from American Heart Journal.

    Am Heart J. 2006 Apr;151(4):934-42. Click here to read Links

    Study of the Therapeutic Effects of Intercessory Prayer (STEP) in cardiac bypass patients: a multicenter randomized trial of uncertainty and certainty of receiving intercessory prayer.
    Benson H, Dusek JA, Sherwood JB, Lam P, Bethea CF, Carpenter W, Levitsky S, Hill PC, Clem DW Jr, Jain MK, Drumel D, Kopecky SL, Mueller PS, Marek D, Rollins S, Hibberd PL.

    Mind/Body Medical Institute, Department of Medicine, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA. hbenson@bidmc.harvard.edu

    BACKGROUND: Intercessory prayer is widely believed to influence recovery from illness, but claims of benefits are not supported by well-controlled clinical trials. Prior studies have not addressed whether prayer itself or knowledge/certainty that prayer is being provided may influence outcome. We evaluated whether (1) receiving intercessory prayer or (2) being certain of receiving intercessory prayer was associated with uncomplicated recovery after coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery.

    METHODS: Patients at 6 US hospitals were randomly assigned to 1 of 3 groups: 604 received intercessory prayer after being informed that they may or may not receive prayer; 597 did not receive intercessory prayer also after being informed that they may or may not receive prayer; and 601 received intercessory prayer after being informed they would receive prayer. Intercessory prayer was provided for 14 days, starting the night before CABG. The primary outcome was presence of any complication within 30 days of CABG. Secondary outcomes were any major event and mortality. RESULTS: In the 2 groups uncertain about receiving intercessory prayer, complications occurred in 52% (315/604) of patients who received intercessory prayer versus 51% (304/597) of those who did not (relative risk 1.02, 95% CI 0.92-1.15). Complications occurred in 59% (352/601) of patients certain of receiving intercessory prayer compared with the 52% (315/604) of those uncertain of receiving intercessory prayer (relative risk 1.14, 95% CI 1.02-1.28). Major events and 30-day mortality were similar across the 3 groups.

    CONCLUSIONS: Intercessory prayer itself had no effect on complication-free recovery from CABG, but certainty of receiving intercessory prayer was associated with a higher incidence of complications.

    Take note of their conclusions. In a predominantly catholic country like ours, I think our bishops would not be very happy with this. Unless they come up with another similar randomized multicenter study disproving this same results!

    Uh what the!

  • Medical Blogging Summit , anyone?

    I’ve been mulling with this idea for quite sometime now and perhaps its high time I’d bring up this here, so I’ll get more hundreds of ideas.

    Why not a Pinoy Medical Bloggers’ or Medical Blogging Summit?

    It would be the first ever here, and will be the pet project of MDs behind The Blog Rounds. I admit it, that whatever up coming social media that’s going to transform the way physicians deliver the best of healthcare, we have to take advantage of it. The huge potential is astounding. And we’re not even talking yet of Web 2.0. If we are going to do it for us physicians, someone else will jump on it soon. I’ve seen the other more techie friendly professionals grabbed the opportunities of blogging and Web 2.0 and I’m really awed by the progress their taking. Not just hype.

    The healthcare industry in the Philippines is seen as a late bloomer in terms of taking opportunities like this. But perhaps it is one way of bringing in closer the archipelagic distances we have to give out the best in healthcare we can offer to our countryman.

    Do you have any ideas on this? Please leave a comment!