I know…it’s about time.  Boxes all were successfully packed and made it out of Salt Lake and now we relate their arrival in Columbus.  This month’s reading round up will focus more on general media than the medical literature, mostly because there have been plenty of juicy tidbits out there recently.

OHSU has added “compassionate communication” to their medical school curriculum.  The rest of us should likely follow suit.

While the letters in response to this New Yorker article appropriately took issue with the failure to represent the perspectives of the staff who cared for Jahi McMath, her story itself remains fascinating.

Increasing amounts of research demonstrate the benefit of self-compassion in staying healthy both physically and psychologically. Many of y’all know I’m an Eric Barker fan, and he had a recent blog post on how to be our best selves that focuses on the role of self-compassion in success. The question of “How should you treat you?” is incredibly important as a cornerstone.

Here’s my one medical journal contribution for this month: opioids for chronic back pain and for osteoarthritis really, truly are the wrong answer. Changing our practices around opioid prescriptions in any specialty is urgent.

Last but not least, in honor of the time change tonight, can we just make the nonsense stop? Here’s some interesting information regarding why (at least in DC) year-round DST isn’t a bad idea.

Happy reading, y’all!  And more soon as I get settled in.

Apparently moving and travel and…well, life have all been a little hectic.  Let’s get back on track with the February reading round up, if we may.

Opioids and our role as surgeons in the current “opioid crisis” is an ongoing hot topic.  This study helps to establish an evidence based for duration of postoperative opioid prescriptions.

If you’ve worked with me clinically you know that I am a big advocate for our pharmacists having a high level of engagement in the care of our patients, particularly those who are critically ill.  Not surprisingly, this new French study shows that having our pharmacy colleagues enforce quality bundles decreases LOS and drug costs.  Friends, listen to your pharmacists.  They are very smart people!

Sexual harassment is yet another hot topic; I wish that Academic Medicine had made this statement free to all readers, but I want to let people know it’s out there if they have access.  We’ve all got to work together to get harassment and discrimination of ANY sort into the “historical interest only” category. Zero tolerance is a key piece in that.

Closely related to this Academic Medicine viewpoint are two things from HBR.  First, their current Big Idea focuses on “Now what?” around the #metoo movement.  HBR podcasts also have a new “Women at Work” series that so far is worth the time invested in listening.

My other reading right now is Shawn Achor’s new book Big Potential. If you are leading a team or aspire to lead a team, or simply want to succeed in life, I would call it “highly recommended.”

 

Happy New Year!  In truth, around my house we’re very much looking forward to the Lunar New Year’s arrival since this will be the Year of the Dog.  Olivia is very pleased with that prospect.

As our population ages, providing best care is a growing focus.  This report provides a thorough overview of proposed standards for surgical care of older adults.

More clinical findings relevant to the opioid epidemic.

Healthy conflict really is just that- healthy. And it’s good for our organizations because it fosters intellectual diversity.

This is a beautiful cross-cultural essay on end-of-life care in this week’s New Yorker.

Last but not least (since I’m mostly going off-medicine this month, it seems) is this reflection on kindness. Please use it liberally.

Onward and upward, y’all, and happy 2018.

 

 

Yes, you notice…I left “reading” out of it.  I’m going to share exactly one article today relevant to academic medicine; I believe it’s that important and I don’t want you to miss it as many of us consider issues of “talent acquisition and development” in our profession.

We don’t have many WWII Veterans left out there.  I’m grateful for the story from this one, and what a treat to see him fly in the plane he jumped from on D-Day!

Many of y’all have heard me say I have no designs to run a marathon, and I persist in that stance.  That said, this woman’s description of what motivates her to train for a marathon aligns almost-perfectly with my thoughts on running. #irunbecauseigetto

If you’ve kept up for any length of time around here, you know I am a fan of Eric Barker and his “Barking up the wrong tree” blog.  In mid-November he dropped some wisdom about the friends we need in our lives, and there’s no time better than the holidays to look at that list (and the list definitely relates to the picture above from yesterday’s run-these ladies and I have referred to one another as “hide a body” friends more than once!). Related, his book that came out this year is the best leadership book I’ve read in the last 3 years.  Truly.

I try to throw some good listening in here every once in a while.  Chris Stapleton has a new album out as of Friday, and it’s worth your time. I promise.

And because I do believe we can all use some levity, I think this may be the best story of 2017. Can we make #drunkpossum trend on Twitter?

Yes, we’re almost a week into the month. In a somewhat unusual turn of events, I actually took the holiday weekend OFF.  I thoroughly enjoyed it.

So, what’s caught my eye recently? A few things.

• Which surgery residents are most at risk for attrition? We have some ideas based upon this outstanding paper. Now we need to figure out WHY this happens.
• We tend to be generous with pharmacologic therapies in the ICU setting, generally for good reason.  Nevertheless, medication errors are one of the most common safety report issues in hospitals. This Clinical Practice Guideline from SCCM reminds us that we do need to be good stewards and identifies the opportunities for doing so.
• Are you struggling with giving your learners feedback?  It’s not a surprise with the dearth of high-quality, evidence based recommendations.
• For those who aren’t aware that Montana has lost over 1 million acres to fires in the last two months, here’s a relevant online piece from the New Yorker. Between Harvey hitting my cultural homeland last week and watching a state I’ve grown to love burn, I’ve got a lot of sadness about events largely beyond anyone’s control right now.  Irma is the proverbial frosting on the cake.

Fun reading? I may have too many books going right now.  I pulled out some Brian Doyle (The Plover) for my trip to Portland last weekend because it only seemed appropriate. If you’re not familiar with his work, this essay gives you a lovely taste of it. I’m reading (and learning from!) Michael Bungay Stanier’s The Coaching Habit.  September book group is our annual foray into nonfiction, this month with Ta-Nahisi Coates Between the World and Me.

Happy almost-Fall, y’all.  Stay safe!

It was the 4th before I realized it was time for a new reading round up.  How did August happen?!?  And, of course, we’re back to business this month after last month’s not-so-light reading.

The “opidemic” is an issue getting plenty of press right now. And, of course, while patients deserve proper pain relief after we do things that hurt them (surgery, for example), we have an obligation to be responsible in our approach. Here’s more data about how often prescription opioids go unused after surgery. I’m proud of our group’s practice of carefully monitoring our prescribing practices, educating on safe storage, and providing lockboxes to patients.

There’s no question that Oregon Health Sciences is ahead of the curve in their development and implementation of the concept of the Academic RVU.  Here’s their story on how this happened and what it means for faculty.

Intraoperative teaching is not easy, and we know less about it than we should.  This systematic review synthesizes what we do know- particularly that there is often a disconnect between faculty and learner perceptions.

And a recent nonfiction read that definitely provides some good food for thought: A Selfish Plan to Change the World by Justin Dillon. Any book that instructs readers to “find their riot”?  That’s good enough for me.

 

It’s that time! Here’s the July, 2017 edition of what I’m reading, supplemented with some of what I’m listening to. Here’s a hint: It’s summertime, and I’m not going to give you any academic reading right now.  So there.

Fiction:

June’s book group novel was La Rose by Louise Erdrich.  The writing is lyrical, the story a bit magical…so much goodness, and it resulted in a juicy discussion.

I’m just settling into July’s selection: Case Histories by Kate Atwood.  I’ll report back, but the first 50 pages have been fascinating.

Nonfiction:

Barking up the Wrong Tree by Eric Barker– I’ve recommended his Sunday blog/ email more than once.  The book is a terrific complement to his usual investigation style that helps enhance personal success.

Other:

From HBR, ways to weave self-care into your workday.  I love that they also support the idea of not “shoulding” all over yourself.  It’s an unhealthy practice.

From the New Yorker, “America’s Future is Texas.” It’s a great explanation of how my home state really is a bellwether for current American politics.

Listening:

Sam Sanders (from NPR) is also an expat Texan and recently started his podcast, “It’s been a minute.” Tuesdays are a “deep dive” with another public figure, and Fridays are a catch-up for the week.  Highly recommended- I’m listening to his interview with Timothy Simons as I type.

For my foodie friends, I recently stumbled across “The Food Chain” from BBC.  Each week they focus on a food or food culture related topic in a very approachable manner.

Last but not least, a plug for NPR’s “Up First.” It comes out daily Monday-Friday and gives you 15 minutes of news highlights for the day.

Happy Dog Days of summer, folks!

 

Brand new month!

So what’s out there that is catching my eye?

We all spend quite a bit of time thinking about how to improve teaching of technical skills.  What about using video-based coaching to supplement OR teaching?

What does the public know (and want to know) about overlapping surgery?

The 2016 State of the Science articles for burn care are out. These cover everything from burn resuscitation to community reintegration, and are all important comments on where we are in burn care (and how far we have to go).

And bringing out my inner policy geek, here’s a great overview from Politico on what the impact is for the GOP if/ when Obamacare repeal fails.

Catching my ear is the “Up First” podcast from NPR. I seldom have time to listen closely to the news throughout the day, so this is a great summary of what’s happening.

Happy reading (and listening).

 

 

I’ll start with an apology: I’ve not been on my A-game with keeping up with the blog lately. Lots of life distractions, many of which I’m hopeful will start to settle down soon.  It’s not been easy.

So, it is April, and a number of things out there have caught my eye.

The March print edition of JAMASurgery included this systematic review and metaanalysis of causes of attrition in general surgery residency. While I’m reasonably certain we can’t get the rate to zero because there are factors we cannot control, we must do what we can.

While we are all becoming painfully aware that too many narcotics are being prescribed for our patients, we tend to not have a good understanding of what constitutes too many or too much.  This study provides an important baseline for us as surgeons. I will also note that Annals of Surgery will have an ongoing series examining the opiod crisis from a surgical perspective.

We’re definitely talking more about delirium mitigation in our adult ICU patient population.  What about the children?  Apparently it’s a problem for them too (particularly with “inflammatory disorders,” which would definitely be my patient population!).

Going a bit outside of the medical journals, what’s next in hospital innovations to keep patients safe? I was thrilled to see my friend Amir Ghaferi‘s name as first author on this piece.

Pleasure reading?  Our book group is spending the next two months with one of my all-time favorites: The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon.  I am looking forward to re-experiencing it.