Dr. A Show 183 Tonight: Radio Rounds

Thursday, September 16th, 2010 at 9pm ET (0100 UTC)

I hope that you can join us tonight for Doctor Anonymous Show 183 when our guests will be the hosts of the podcast Radio Rounds which is a show completely produced and created by medical students at the Boonshoft School of Medicine at Wright State University. Avash Kalra, Lakshman Swamy, Shamie Das, and John Corker are schedule to appear on tonight's show. (I invite you to check out each of their bios before the show)

The video above has the newest co-host of the show, Casey McCluskey, who shares her story of what it was like to be a patient. You see, at the end of her first year of medical school - like during finals week - she was diagnosed with breast cancer (as a medical student) and she shares her journey through this with the tremendous support of her classmates, her friends, and her family.

If you are new to the show, I encourage you to catch us live. There is a great chat room that also goes on. You can even see my shining face on the webcam. Can't catch us live? That's ok. You can listen anytime after the show as it is saved as a podcast so you can listen anytime!

For first time Blog Talk Radio listeners:
*Although it is not required to listen to the show, I encourage you to register on the BlogTalkRadio site prior to the show. I think it will make the process easier.

*To get to my show site, click here. As show time gets closer, keep hitting "refresh" on your browser until you see the "Play/Chat" button. Then, of course, press the "Play/Chat" button.

Ohio Governor Debate

Last night in Columbus, the first of two televised debates took place between Democratic Governor Ted Strickland and Republican nominee John Kasich. This debate was only televised in the Columbus area (which I have a little problem with, since I don't live in Columbus, but that's another post). I was able to catch some TV highlights from the local TV news station down there.

It's always interesting seeing how the campaign messages are structured. The incumbent governor is taking the Wall Street Vs Main Street approach to appeal to his constituents (quote below from an article from the Columbus Dispatch)

My opponent has worked on Wall Street while I was here in Ohio fighting to create jobs," Strickland said. "He worked for Lehman Brothers, a big company that manipulated and lied and acted unethically, and cost Ohio pensions over $400 million. While they were going into bankruptcy, two years ago tomorrow my opponent was getting a $400,000 bonus. This is a question of Wall Street values versus Ohio values.

On the other side of the isle, the former congressman is focusing on the state's economy and the loss and lack of jobs to get his message out:

Governor, we've lost 382,000 jobs on your watch. You promised to turn Ohio around and you failed and you want to blame everybody else. You've got to learn to accept personal responsibility.... If I'd lost 382,000 jobs, I'd engage in the politics of distraction as well...If you can't sell your own record, you attack the other guy. But you know what, I'm not distracted.

I have always disliked the term "bell weather state" in the description of Ohio politics - meaning that, the way that Ohio state elections go (whether it be for democrats or republicans) - sometimes being predictive of how national elections may go.

I don't do a lot of political commentary, but this 2010 US national election cycle is going to be an important one. So, even though it's not a US presidential election year, I encourage everybody to at least learn about some of the important issues on a local, state and national level. The first step at change is making yourself aware of what is going out there. And, I guess this post is to help me a little with that...

FMEC 2010 Site

For those of you who follow me on twitter, you may remember that I tweeted out the message above stating that I was excited about a new project that I was a part of. Well, in this post, I will share this with you. I am going to be part of a panel during Halloween Weekend coming up next month in Hershey, Pennsylvania at the Family Medicine Education Consortium (FMEC 2010) NE Region Conference. I'm going to be talking about (what else) - Social Media and Family Medicine.

And, in getting ready for the conference, my enthusiasm got the best of me in that I created a "fan page" devoted to the FMEC 2010 meeting. Why is it a "fan page?" Well, it's definitely unofficial and not necessarily endorsed by the organization and I am solely the one responsible for the content of the page.

Anyway, my goal in the creation of the page is to hopefully generate dialogue between and among the attendees to the meeting. The meeting participants can be from community family physicians, family physician educators, residents and medical students. It's no secret that I'm excited about social media and I hope to spread the excitement to my peers on this subject. So, if you are a family doc and/or going to the FMEC 2010 meeting, I encourage you to check out my site and spark some discussion over there! (also check out the video below in which I welcome people to the site)

Better Health Live Interviews

Members of the Better Health team - including Dr. Val, KevinMD, and Dr. Rob - will be covering a meeting in Washington, DC on Thursday, September 16, 2010. The meeting is called "Fact Or Fiction: ADHD in America, A Capitol Hill Forum." The moderator for this forum will be Frank Sesno who is for former Washington Bureau Chief for CNN.

The forum concludes at 2pm at which point the Better Health Team will conduct LIVE interviews via ustream.tv with individuals from the forum. Click on this link at around 2pm Eastern Time to not only see these live interviews, but also you can take part in the discussion via the live chat room in which you can ask questions in real time so that you can feel like you're actually there as part of the dialogue.

You may remember that Better Health did similar interviews earlier this year as part of the HIMSS conference in Atlanta. Check out the video above to see a quick snapshot of the interviews. The full interviews are available at the Better Health You Tube site. Hope to see you on Thursday afternoon at the Better Health UStream Site!

Show 183 Preview: Radio Rounds

The Dr. A Thursday night shows return this week with Doctor Anonymous Show 183 featuring the hosts of the Radio Rounds podcast which is completely created and produced by medical students from the Boonshoft School of Medicine at Wright State University. Hosts Avash Kalra, Lakshman Swamy, Shamie Das, and John Corker will be joining me.

The list of their previous guests is quite impressive including KevinMD, Samuel Shem (author of House of God), the Editor-In-Chief of JAMA, and a show from earlier this year talking with a physician on his way to Haiti.

I invite you to join me for Doctor Anonymous Show 183 on Thursday, September 16, 2010 at 9pm Eastern Time on BlogTalkRadio. Don't forget to check out the video post above, the twitter page, the facebook page, the iTunes page, and the you tube page. See you for the show!

Dr. A Show 182: Sept 11, 2010

Even though Doctor Anonymous Show 182 was a Saturday night show (and typically Saturday nite shows are lighter in content), Show 182 was on September 11, 2010. All the way back at Doctor Anonymous Show 48 in 2008 - I also shared comments about September 11. And, it is not my goal to make any kind of political statement. I just wanted to share some thoughts of what was going through my head. (Check out the video above which shares my comments about 9/11)

Of course, Show 182 did not totally encompass discussion on 9/11, there were other topics covered as well including some sports stories, entertainment stories and odd stories. As always, Kat was co-hosting with me on Saturday night. You can listen to the show right on this site on the player in the sidebar. You can also download the show and listen anytime by going to the iTunes page for the show. Don't forget to check out the Facebook page for the show and hit the big "Like" button at the top. I also invite you to check out my You Tube page in which I have some TV interviews with local TV news about a variety of health issues. Thanks for your continued support for the show!

Dr. A Show 181 Wrap-up: Reunion

I'm just catching up on these wrap-up shows for prior podcasts. Doctor Anonymous Show 181 orignially aired a couple of weeks ago. That same evening was my 20 year high school reunion. And during Show 181, and in the video above, I discuss the reasons why I did not attend my reunion. And, I admit that I got mixed feedback on why I didn't attend. I really appreciate your discussion on this!

If you missed the show, don't worry! You can listen to the show in the player on the sidebar of this blog. You can also download the show and listen anytime by going to the iTunes page for the show. In addition, please check out the Facebook page for the show and hit the huge "Like" button at the top. Finally, if you like the video above, check out my other videos on my you tube page. Thanks for your continued support for the show!

KevinMD on Video

In the past few days, you may have noticed that our friend KevinMD is utilizing viddler.com to do video previews of upcoming blog/website content. This is an interesting move from the opinion leader who traditionally has only used text - although he has posted videos on his site in the past from other medically related content providers.

I think this is a good thing and shows the trend of content creation moving beyond the text format into other areas like video, audio, and live streaming. I hope that other opinion leaders in this space try out video, audio, and other platforms. Continuing to explore other means of social media communication is what I like to see!

Never Forget

September 11, 2001 - 8:46am

Concussions in School Sports

Earlier this week, a study that was published by the American Academy of Pediatrics stating that "The number of sport-related concussions is highest in high-school aged athletes, but the number in younger athletes is significant and on the rise." Why is this? Many believe that this is from better recognition of the symptoms and the need to be medically evaluated.

I did a couple of interviews with local TV news to talk about the subject (Video 1 and Video 2). In my research on this subject, I found an article from the Dayton Daily News stating that the Ohio High School Athletic Association passed a policy in May 2010:

Any athlete who exhibits signs, symptoms or behaviors consistent with a concussion (such as loss of consciousness, headache, dizziness, confusion or balance problems) shall be immediately removed from the contest and shall not return to play until cleared with written authorization by an appropriate health care professional.

In addition, on the OHSAA website, there is an entire section devoted to concussions and head injuries. I have also read that other states have taken similar steps - especially with high school and younger athletes. If you find the videos in this post helpful, I encourage you to see my other interviews on health related topics at MikeSevilla.TV