Headed for the OR? Mayo Clinic Suggests 5 Questions to Ask Your Surgeon Before the Operation

Learning that you will need surgery can prompt many questions and a lot of anxiety. Beyond details about your procedure, what else should you ask your surgeon before the operation? Mayo Clinic's Robert Cima, M.D., a colon and rectal surgeon and chair of Mayo's surgical quality subcommittee, suggests adding these questions to your list:

· Are you board-certified to perform this procedure?
· Will it help if I lose weight before the operation?
· Does it matter if I'm a smoker?
· What if I have sleep apnea?
· Is there anything we can do to get me out of the hospital faster?

Social Media in Medical Education: What are the Burning Questions?

The 2011 Association for the Study of Medical Education (ASME) conference will take place in Edinburgh in July.

The conference organizers are asking all the right questions:

- Is a WordPress blog more useful than a Blackboard module?

- How social is social bookmarking?

- How can social media help medical education researchers?

- How can we manage and develop our own digital identity?


The Networked Teacher - Diagram, Flickr http://goo.gl/CVddi

References:

Social Media and Networks in Medical Education: Workshop at ASME
What are the Downsides of Social Media for Doctors? Dr. Wes shares insights from 6 years of blogging

Doctors disciplined for sharing examination questions - CNN report

In 2010, the American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM) suspended or revoked the certification of 139 physicians for giving away or soliciting examination questions for a board review company.

Residents taking the American Board of Radiology medical physics examination wrote down test questions ("recalls"), and shared them with future examinees. Dermatology residents also reproduced questions ("airplane notes") minutes after the certification examination.

CNN reports on residents preparing for certification examinations using questions reproduced by people who took previous exams:

References: Opinion: When doctors cheat - CNN http://buff.ly/19c2P70