Cast & Curious

Category: Uncategorized

  • Logging back to The Orthopedic Logbook and some interesting jolts of imagination.

    I’ve been away from this Logbook long enough to think, my medical blogging enthusiasm suddenly died a tragic death. The blogging hiatus emanates not from the dearth of medical issues hounding this country (there are at least a handful that I read on newspapers), but by the distracting circus of politics plastered by the mainstream media. The sickening politics of the corrupt dampen spirits even of the most politically apathetic medical blogging community where I belong. But then again, those are just my two cents opinion.

    Going on to a more immediate cause of concern for me, is the stalled Blog Rounds. Something amidst the rounds itself that dulled our enthusiasm. Or are we just plain busy doing something else? One thing I’m sure though, The Blog Rounds will continue in cyberspace for as long us we joust with our imaginative free thinking physician mind.

    Another point of interest for me is the reproductive health bill (Prudence hosted the rounds for this topic here) currently overshadowed by the political and partisan mayhem in the congress. The quick uproar created by RHB earlier was also quickly muted by the “circus of honorables”. This politics of diarrhea (called it that way because such politics is nothing but frequent bouts of mumbo shits by dishonorables) somehow reached epidemic proportions nowadays that nothing seem more important to our respectable leaders than their political continuity.

    I might as well go on to blogging more about web 2.0 and health 2.0. How can this information tools improve our delivery of health care? We might not know it but some of us are actually making use of these tools to improve our practice and deliver better efficient health care for our patients. So watch my posts on this topic.

    Well, the global recession might be very interesting to follow for countries like us exporting health care workers. Is the medical community affected also? Are we seeing a decline in demands for health workers abroad? How about us physisicans? Are we affected by this recession? Should we be wary?

    Lastly, since “presidentiables” keep popping like mushrooms nowadays, I might be very interesting to observe who among these wannabes own a pragmatic medical agenda for Philippine health care. Taking cue from US presidential campaign, health issues and policies should be a major part of any presidentiable’s programs.

    “We need change, but it should be a change for good, not just of faces”

  • Lessons from the pulpit: My MBS2 summit experience and E-health 2.0

    E-health 2.0
    Since I started a medical blog (The Orthopedic Logbook) , I’ve been very enthusiastic on bringing on Web 2.0 and health together in marriage, so that the medical blogging community in the Philippines will have a distinct voice undiluted by mainstream media. The powers of Web 2.0 has this potential of revolutionizing health care and health care delivery systems in the country. In my upcoming posts, I will be tackling Web 2.0 and how Filipino physicians can take advantage of this promising tool to efficiently and effectively deliver quality health care to our fellowmen.
    Amazing Feat
    My Mindanao blogging community experience and how the forerunners of this very vibrant group in the blogosphere made me really gasps at the powers of Web 2.0 and blogging. The recent Mindanao Blogging Summit 2 humbled the reach of a usually constricted mainstream media. With attendance going up to a hundred, imagine how many readers and blog visitors these participants have or how far their reach are when they’ll finally “post” their experience. Thus, an attempt at Blogging the Mindanao Consciousness helped correct some of the negative views about Mindanao. Five years ago, you hear nothing but bad news about Mindanao. Try goggling for the word Mindanao and you’ll see what I’m talking about.

    Taking cue from the organizers of MBS2 and how they collaborate to attain goals via the blogosphere, sort of made me ponder. What if we do that for the Philippine health care? For one, some controversial issues in Philippine medicine caught the “Web 2.0 attention” and somehow changed the Filipinos maturity. The reproductive health bill for example, made rounds in the blogosphere and you hear not just the health bigwigs in the mainstream media. You read common Filipinos enter the limelight and discuss on this issues via blogging! Mind Boggling? Not really. But wait till what web 2.0 can do for health in the Philippines!

    “Collaborative information by the people, for the people”
    This is where the power of Web 2.0 lay. And that’s why MBS2 and the Mindanao Blogging community is so successful.

  • The First Ever TBR Bloggers EB at Serendra The Fort!

    I’ve been to The Fort (Taguig) some years back for a class mini reunion and party. I still remember walking along a dimly lit, but paved road flanked by mostly vacant, half finished buildings. Taxi ride is nearly non existent then, especially at night. I have to wait for almost an hour just to get a taxi!


    That was five years ago. The Fort, now less spacious and “taunting” a well manicured park (was it really a park I saw?) of some sort,  is reminiscent of the booming  Greenbelt of the late nineties ! Tagging along Joy, another “foreigner” to this place, we feel lost in a somewhat distantly familiar place.

    “Where on earth is Serendra?!”

    Uh, by the way, me and Joy is about to join other medical bloggers for The Blog Rounds Mini EB. Megamom has volunteered to arrange this EB and was practically cajoling everyone to come,  meet, dine,and have fun with fellow TBR bloggers.

    “If only we can find Brazil restaurant…or Serendra”…

    “Let’s go that way!” I excited nudged Joy towards a crowded portion of this spacious, stacks of buildings. “Just ask the guard, dude!” quipped Joy.

    Just about 30 steps east we found Brazil Restaurant– a fine looking restaurant known for its mouth watering buffet and endless barbecue slices!. Megamom and Louell are already “warming up” their muscles of mastication. After introducing ourselves, we settled down the table, got busy with our plates and went on with the sumptuous meal..

    Doc Harry and Doc Gigi came in halfway our meals and endless “joking around”.

    Exchange of blogger stories, ideas, news and almost everything else started pouring in.  So is the never ending barbecue slices of Serendra.

    “You have to turn that yoyo upside down so the waiters and waitresses will stop feeding us with barbecue cholesterol.” Ugh!

    The one thing I liked most about bloggers is their endless “pond” of ideas. “Pond” that never “dry” up!

    Doc Joey and her  hubby came in when we were on our second meal serving. Yup, no dessert yet. The hilarious parking mix up by Doc Joey‘s hubby (near market market) made us all laugh. Obviously, Doc Joey and hubby got lost too, in the Fort‘s maze, looking for Serendra.

     The Blog Rounds EB at Brazil Restaurant, The Fort
    (Clockwise, R-L: Doc Joey’s hubby, Joey MD, Bone Doc, Harry, Louell, Megamom, Gigi. Not in this photo is Joy, who volunteered to take this picture)

    Doc Tess Hey texted she’s coming to this EB too. Somehow, she never showed up and  we all wondered why. “Bakit nga ba?”

    Not around also were Docs Manggy (who had to fetch someone at the airport)  Doc Prudence, (suddenly called for duty) , Doc Mel and Che  (who are not around Manila during those times).

    The EB went on with ideas for the upcoming TBR Summit! Here are some of the resolutions we agreed upon during the EB. Pinay Megamom  promised a full account of the meeting and tasks assignment for this summit.

    1. There will be a TBR summit summertime (April-June) next year (2008). The date, place, and full summit topics will be decided on by the Org Comm, Bloggers next meetings.
    2. The organizing committee will be composed of those who attended the EB plus any other volunteers form the TBR bloggers’ pool.
    3. Those who weren’t around EB will be given special assignments. (TBA by Megamom)
    4. Part of the TBR summit resolution will be some sort of medical blogging ethical guidelines (akin to hippocratic oath in medical blogosphere?).
    5. TBR bloggers will be encourage to contribute topics for the summit and suggestions will be great appreciated. In fact, some TBR editions will be devoted to this.

    I’m still waiting for Megamom to post details of the EB meeting…

    “Kain pa tayo!” Indeed we (me actually) ate to (over)indulgence. We had great time and fun, meeting other sane minded medical bloggers. Thanks to Aileen and her anonymous EB sponsor!!!!.

    And to those who weren’t there at the EB, watch out for your summit assignments and better be there next meeting. Doc Manggy promised to cook for that meeting! Our chef, will no less than the Best Food Lovers/Blogger awardee of Phil. Blog Awards!

  • 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!