We, the child health community, are proud to focus on ‘well-being’ much more than numerical things, like fractional shortening, GFR or HbA1c*. In a recent discussion, it was identified that there has been a sociological academic discussion on looking at how interventions in childhood are more about well-becoming rather than well-being. Which intrigued me … […]
Category: practice of medicine
Of Vets and Paediatricians
I’ve heard it said, by those ignorant the joys of working in paediatrics, that our chosen speciality is “a bit like veterinary medicine”. Presumably this is a dig at both parties – at paediatricians because our patients couldn’t possible give us a history, could they? And also at vets because, well, their patients really can’t give […]
“I don’t want that needle!” (AKA Do fewer things)
We (doctory, paediatric types) tend to pride ourselves on minimising distress to children and young people wherever possible. A couple of social media interactions over the last few days have made me re-question that – this one ..also responsibility to not create unnecessary fear. Not all blood tests go smoothly. Did the child really need […]
Being a (part time) Consultant
Inspired by the wisdom of @ian_wac in the previous post, I wracked my brain to think of five top tips that I would give (if ever asked) on “How to be a Consultant”. […]
Being a Consultant
A colleague recently asked me, because he’d been asked to give a talk, what my top five tips would be regarding being a consultant. I thought that crowd-sourcing your talk was a bit cheeky, until I realised that I could spin off a blog post about it. […]
Work-Life Balance
Of course, you’ve got to maintain a work life balance. Of course you have. Of course. And, while we’re at it, we should discuss getting a life. We discussed just that down at my local “Get a life” club recently. (Joke courtesy of Barry Crier). But I’d like to put forward a different perspective. […]
Guest post: The scary thing about research
You know that question that always comes up after a journal club/critical review of a paper session – “so where do we go from here?” and you also know the standard answer – “more research is needed”. Have you ever thought about why you use that answer? Well, firstly, its what we were taught from […]
Evidence on the floor of my kitchen
Every year when the shops fill with Slade, calendars count down in chocolate to an absence of cereal on the morning of the 25th December and male faces fill with desperation at present buying, my mind slips back to my kitchen, about a decade ago. It’s an unremarkable kitchen, but had in it a large […]
“And what medicines is he on?”
It was reading a paper describing how sociologists were working with clinical trialists testing a microbiocidal pessary to reduce HIV transmission that got me thinking, again, about how we can lose ourselves in language. The example that stuck with me in the paper was of the understood meanings of the words ‘day’ and ‘month’. When does the […]
Drained
Compassion fatigue. Burnout. Exhaustion. Call it what you will, many, if not most of us, will at some point – probably many points – crunch into a spell where putting in 110% has left you with nothing but a rattling can. And perhaps a desire for chocolate, gin or trash TV. […]