Cast & Curious

Category: Uncategorized

  • Taming a Firecracker Craze Nation

    Filipinos should get rid of another culture we imbibed from colonizers – the love for the new year, firecracker bang. It is said that new years eve revelries isn’t “happy new year” without a loud, ka-boom in our backyard.

    The firecracker lighting habit, will supposedly ward off  bad “spirits” and bad luck in the coming year.  An entirely huge  business market (legit or otherwise) emerged from this  habit. This , together with our superstition,  fuel a culture of indifference that is dangerously playing with life threatening injuries.

    Legit firecrackers makers says it’s a problem with implementation of regulations, the illegal ones say they’re just “earning a living”. Department of Health noted there is a yearly reduction of firecracker injuries (17% this year) and proposes a selective ban of firecrackers. The national overnment on the other hand  let the local government impose its own “rules” on their constituents. What does the ordinary Juan dela Cruz say? 

    No (credible) survey has been made on this yet. If ever there will be, will you be for a total ban on firecrackers or selective ban? Please comment below for your answers.

    As a physician, I had my stand on this since 2009- a total ban, and I’ve said my reasons years ago in the same post. In a country where imposition of ‘selective” laws is wanting (selective logging ban, remember?), another selective law is a joke. (Ironically, some of our esteemed authorities was caught on camera squabbling to get their hands on firecrackers confiscated after their photo-ops!).

    Loss of fingers and hand functions from a firecracker (Photo by Phillip Ko)
    Loss of fingers and hand functions from a firecracker (Photo by Phillip Ko)

    From a physician and surgeon who deals with firecracker injuries every new year, even a single firecracker injury is unacceptable. It is one totally avoidable surgical condition and expense. Be realistic? Look at Davao City, who had a total firecracker ban for many years already and have zero firecracker injury case for 4 straight years. How much did the local government saved on the medical expense of treating firecracker injuries? of fires brought about by firecrackers? Of cleaning up trash? Treating bronchitis from smog of firecrackers?

    Firecracker reduction and statistics are for bureaucrats who deal with laws.  I deal with extremities, with functions and quality of life. That is obviously a minus for those who were victims of firecrackers! Thus I repeat, a single firecracker injury is unacceptable. Total ban on firecrackers should be imposed.

     

  • Changing times and changing my blog

    Over a span of several years, I’ve been blogging about almost everything related to my practice. That same time I “grew up” from a “grunt” blogger to one that takes positive insights to every bit of challenge hurled in front of me, medicine related or otherwise. This blog also “expanded”  its horizons from just relating personal experiences to some “serious” stuff about healthcare.

    the current blog theme

    Physicians still has the “authority” over medicine, but not without silent criticisms from “internet powered” patient. Patients gets medical information, validated or not, from the internet. That was years ago. The broad definition of internet sources it seems, is not limited to peer reviewed journals and strict professional medical organizations’ websites. Social media entered the picture and  is becoming a source of medical information. In fact social media, has been pushing boundaries and game changing healthcare as we knew. Healthcare couldn’t just shrug off social media nowadays.

    Thus most of the time, physicians just parry questions left and right, answering “yes that’s right mister” or “No mam that study you read on the internet is not accurate!”. In fact, physicians sometimes get into embarrassing moments when patients volunteer information from the internet none of us came across that data (because maybe, we are busy with doctoring and everything else other than googling). (Here’s one good guide on how to deal with the patients who surf the net made by Dr. Iris Tan)

    Healthcare it seems, is playing catch up on social media.

    In this set up, I began to rethink about this blog evolving role in social-media-healthcare-catch-up sort of thing. Five years into blogging, there still not that many physicians grabbing the opportunity of using social media as a healthcare tool. In the business sense, a social media strategy to aid in his practice or just healthcare for that matter.

    [pullquote]I may not have campaigned, but the real score probably is this- we’re damn too busy. If we have break, we surely don’t want to bring up healthcare issues right in the coffee table, much worse online. It’s just taboo.[/pullquote]

    I thought of providing information about orthopedics or general medicine. But over the years providing such scientific informations per se are better done  by sites related to professional medical organizations and peer reviewed journals.

    Which brings me to what I’m probably changing a bit about the tone of this blog.

    I like writing on a more personal level, presenting an information and then nitpick an idea to go deeper into how I’d be able understand it. It’s more of summarizing, injecting personal thoughts and giving a whole lot of personal touch to understanding medical information. There’s more of trying to reconcile experiences with whats the journals says. Most of the time, it’s the “bone of contention” or the question/ dilemma that needs to be decided or answered  which keeps the information interesting and the interaction lively.

    Thus, I’m gunning for a more personal, meaty content, on health care.

    Note the blog theme is changing. Minimalist. More on content. And the title.,

    My bone of contention…

  • Blogging up there, somewhere.

    I’m publishing this blog post a bit late. I can’t stand not writing about a blogger friend and defy her preference for “slipping away” silently.

    Goodbye blogger friend. We will miss your blog posts, your writing and your knack for demystifying music to us, cold souls.

    Goodbye fellow bone doc. Even if we rarely had a chance of actually doing bone surgeries together, we shared the same tenacity for fishing out the medical absurdities of our work.

    I hope you did take the “wave and smile” I made during your induction to the fellows fold a warm welcome and congratulations.

    Not a farewell, I hope.

    By for now blogger, fellow bone doc.

  • Prison break

    Today, one of the longest overstaying patient I had finally went out of the hospital.

    Everyone gonna miss this jolly, friendly guy for sure.

    But he seem not happy.

    He’s being escorted out of the hospital and into a jail, for a crime he committed before he was admitted.

    Guess, he liked the ambiance of this hospital than the place he’s going to live in for some time.

    If I was in his place, I’d be sad too.

     

  • Do you want your healthcare professionals or healthcare institutions to have a social media policy?

    Yesterday I started a survey  asking healthcare professionals (physicians, nurses and allied medical professionals) if their healthcare institutions have a social media usage policy. (If you’re a healthcare professional you can still vote and comment in that post. ) Now its time to ask our clients, the Filipino patients:

    Do you want your healthcare professionals (physicians, nurses allied medical personnel) and /or healthcare institutions (hospitals, clinics) to have a social media policy?

    Philippines, the social media capital of the world!

    This question is important and highly relevant. Why? Philippines is the social media capital of the world and there’s a surge of content sharing in these social networks. That is according to this report by the Global Web Index. Sharing health related patient information on these social networks threads dangerously on an already greyed (if there is/was) privacy and health information laws here in the Philippines. Without enforced laws or governing policies, a breach of patient’s privacy and confidential information have consequences that pose a threat to the mutual trust between patients and his/her physician or that of his/her healthcare institution.

    The other reason is about enhancing patient communication. Social media is  an alternative, revolutionary way in which healthcare professionals or institutions communicate or interact with their patients.  Social media (though research data is lacking on this) could be  a venue for positive reinforcement of actual clinical consults and follow ups. A recent survey also shows that social media is now gaining ground as source of health information in first world countries. The absence of policies regarding its use defaults the interaction to a “free for all” and often negatively affect the overall outcome of these patient-physician  or patient-healthcare institution interactions.

    So again, I’m asking you, Filipino patients, or anyone since obviously you are the ones will be ultimately affected by this policy.

    Do you want your healthcare professional or healthcare institution to have a social media policy use?

    Please vote below and comment (in the comments section) if you wanted to explain your answer. Should you want to maintain anonymous, just email me privately thru this contact page and I will assure you of your confidentiality)

    [poll id=”3″]