“A national survey conducted by Whole Foods asked participants: if they could choose one new years resolution, what would it be.

Survey results revealed:

–> 33 percent of respondents chose making the world a better place;

–> 32 percent said they would like to spend more time with their family;

–> 20 percent said they would like to lose weight and adopt healthy habits; and

–> 12 percent chose budget management as their new years resolution.

More than 75 percent of all respondents said they would prefer to never make another new years resolution and would rather adopt long-term healthy lifestyle solutions.

Technorati Tags: New Year, Resolution, Survey, Whole Foods, Health

“Shift Happens” is the winner of the World’s Best Presentation Contest organised by Slideshare.

This is a stylization of a slideshow originally created by Karl Fisch, examining globalization and America’s future in the 21st century. It is designed to stand alone, without having to be presented in person

Enjoy this excellent slideshow.

Technorati Tags: Globalization, Presentation, Slideshare, Slideshow

In continuation with my previous article, I often add this joke to explain the difference between internal medicine doctors and surgeons to people who ask me “What is Internal Medicine?”.

Four friends decide to go duck hunting. An internal medicine doctor (IMD), psychiatrist, surgeon and a pathologist. They wake up very early and reach the marshes waiting for dawn and the birds to fly.

IMD says “I will take the first shot” and everyone agrees.

Soon the sun starts to rise. The IMD notices a bird flying towards the sunlight. He takes out his gun and aims at the bird but before he shoots he stops to think - “Is this a duck? Is this really a duck?” By the time he decides the species of the bird, the duck disappears in the horizon.

The psychiatrist says “Next shot is mine.” Everyone agrees. Soon another bird is seen but before the psychiatrist can shoot he also sits down to think “I know that this is a duck. But does the bird know that it is a duck.” By the time he finishes his contemplation the bird is nowhere to be seen.

Surgeon - “You people are good for nothing. Watch me.” He pulled out his gun and shoots.

Turning to the Pathologist, the surgeon says “Could check if that bird is a duck.”

(I read this joke long ago and have no idea of its origins. If someone has any idea please do leave a comment)

Technorati Tags: Doctor, Duck, Internal Medicne, Joke, Pathologist, Psychiatrist, Hunting, Surgery

Most people do not understand what Internal Medicine is. I learned this fact while I was on vacation, where on multiple occasions I met people who asked me what my profession was.

This was the usual sequence of communication that followed:-

Me: “I am a doctor”

They: “Cool, so what do you do”

Me: “I am a resident in Internal Medicine”

They: “What is that”

Me: “I am a doctor in training”

They: “Oh! You are still training. So you are not a doctor”

Me: “Well, I am a doctor. I am doing my residency in Internal medicine, which is done after passing out of medical school. I work and learn at the same time” (I elaborated thinking that hopefully this was the last question)

They: “Oh! Ok! So what kind of work do you do”

Me: (Thinking - Oh my God, not again) “I am training in Internal Medicine”

They: “Cool, so do you cut open people. I mean you do surgeries, right”

Me: “No. That is done by surgeons”

They: “Then you are not a doctor. You don’t do surgery”

Me: (Getting a little frustrated and irritated at the same time. Thinking - I have worked so hard to reach this point and now all the credit is taken by surgeons. I will not let this happen) “Well, I diagnose diseases and prescribe medicines”

They: “But the surgeons do that too, right. Then what do you do that they do not do”

Me: (Now really irritated and frustrated. Summoning all my accumulated medical knowledge to this point, I answer his question quite elaborately) “Well, for an example, let’s say you get pneumonia. If you come to me I will give you medicines and cure you. I specialize in non-surgical treatment of diseases. You also have the option to go to the surgeon but he may cut your lungs out. You would not want that, would you!” (I exaggerated)

They: “Naaah!”

End of discussion.

Technorati Tags: Doctor, Internal Medicne, Resident, Surgery

Received this in email……..on the pathetic state of doctors in India.

The facts: Seven hundred medical students, disturbed by certain issues, express their desire to meet the first citizen of the country, proceed peacefully towards the Prime Minister’s office, are manhandled, tear gassed and brutally assaulted by the law enforcers of the city. Some are detained in police stations, and some land up in emergency room of hospitals seeking treatment for injuries. The PMO chooses to remain silent. The residents and the students join hands and declare strike. The media takes the issue in a luke-warm fashion and plays the devil’s advocate, projecting the striking doctors as the root cause of the patients’ suffering. Peacefully protesting doctors in Mumbai were brutally lathicharged infront of the Governor’s house. Some media channels highlighted the atrocities. The Police officials accused the students of damaging property and dismissed the issue as minor commotion. Friends, welcome to Democrazy!

Are medical students of the top five medical colleges of the country, arguably some of the best brains that the country has in the current generation? Is it justified to treat them as common men? If yes, then like everyone demands their rights and voices their opinion in form of strikes, violence and hooliganism, so they are justified in their desire to make their voice heard. If no, then was the brutal handling of the youth justified? Please consider they are not even full grown adults. A medical student is only 17 when he joins college. What message do you convey to these children when you assault them brutally, tear gas them or hit them with water canons? And for what objective?

Is our Prime Minister so unapproachable to the best minds of the nation for an issue which concerns them? How does the current government then try to identify with the masses of the nation? Is our political think tank so far away from the common man that to meet the PM our students need to face physical and mental humiliation? If the medical students are not our masses, then who is the common man?

More than 24 hours have passed after the students tried to meet the PM and were chased and beaten away. Yet the PM remains silent. No statement has been issued by the PM office regarding the issue raised or the sad turn of events. Is our Prime Minister, incapable, apathetic, indifferent or a mute spectator? Does he await orders from other sources, (divine intervention) to open his mouth and speak? Like the HRD minister, the PMO would probably offer an apology for the misbehavior meted out to the students at the hands of the law enforcing agencies when the office opens on Monday. Has this become a mockery? First you slap an individual and then two days later, sweetly apologize and then request to forget and forgive. The doctors are expected to attend to emergencies on weekends, but the PMO has no emergencies. It remains silent over the weekend. Of course it is probably a matter too trivial to respond on. Or is the PM waiting for directives on what he has to say. It is also possible that the speechwriter has taken ill and is not finding any doctor who will attend to him. The HRD Minister had comfortably said that he was unaware that students wanted to meet him, and expressed his sorrow that police had mistreated them. A similar answer could be expected from the PM and the Governor of Mumbai. If their information system is so defunct that they don’t get a message from outside their gates for 24 hours, what are they sitting in office for and how are they managing the entire country?

The media focuses attention on suffering patients outside hospitals. The core issue has largely been cold-shouldered. The double standards adopted by the media are clearly evident, and they wait to capture the most emotional story to catch the prime slot for maximum viewership. God forbid if there is mortality outside the hospital, be sure that you will catch the eventuality on the news channels with the sensationalization even before the calamity has actually occurred.

The patient suffering seems to be the sole responsibility of the doctors who are on strike. They have moral, physical and emotional responsibility of all the suffering caused. The silence from the PM office is shattering. There is not even a word from the Prime Minister. Is he following what has long been our foreign policy, ‘watching the situation closely’? Or is this something right out of our gynecology textbooks, ‘watchful expectancy’? This is sheer mockery of the highest office in the country.

Is the faculty of medical colleges and hospitals, merely supportive or is willing to become an active participant in the whole issue? Where are the nurses, and the hospital attendants? What is their role in the issue and are they supportive or participant? The pool officers, research staff and the residents of Hospital administration, are you not doctors? Do you not wish to favor or support the reservation agitation? Why is there such deafening silence from the IITs, IIMs and other intelligentsia of the country? Does the reservation issue not affect you or bother you? United we stand divided we fall.

We are creating all the fuss when the certificate for your reserved status can be obtained in INR 1000 from any government office in Chandigarh as the news channels reported. Why don’t we all approach such agents and get ourselves the certificate and thereby become eligible for the reserved quota?

We are a society that is sitting on a live fuse. Angry scuffles have become common following minor road accidents and have given birth to the phenomenon of ‘Road Rage’. It will not be a surprise if ‘Rang de Basanti’ does not remain a mere movie to be watched in theaters, and the PMO has a serious situation to deal with if the current one is not serious enough to provoke comment.