Tuesday 11 March 2014

10 Most common tools used by doctors

To the right is an example of the TOOLS Used by an "average doctor":

1 = a pressure cuff for taking blood,
2 = a stethoscope for listening to body sounds,
3 = a calculator for adjusting drug doses,
4 = a tape measure,
5 = a personal organizer/pda, 



6 = an otoscope to look in ears,
7 = an ophthalmoscope to examine eyes,
8 = a light,
9 = a patella hammer for checking reflexes,
10 = a name tag and pen of choice - 'cause we write a lot!

It's important to remember that specialists will carry different tools to work and some doctors don't even use stethoscopes - for example a dermatologist doesn't need to listen to your skin. And other instruments are so big, like ultrasounds, they're left at work. And of course, the most important tool a doctor must carry to work each day is their brain.

Source: Doctor Secrets

The Best 50 University In The World In 2013

According to QS World Universities Rankings 2013 these are the best 50 university in the world :

1)Massachusetts Institute of Technology
2)Harvard University
3)University of Cambridge
4)University College London
5)Imperial College London
6)University of Oxford
7)Stanford University
8)Yale University
9)University of Chicago
10)California Institute of Technology
10)Princeton University
12)Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich (ETH Zurich)
13)University of Pennsylvania
14)Columbia University
15)Cornell University
16)Johns Hopkins University
17)University of Edinburgh
17)University of Toronto
19)Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL)
19)King's College London
21)McGill University
22)University of Michigan
23)Duke University
24)National University of Singapore
25)University of California, Berkeley




26)The University of Hong Kong
27)Australian National University
28)Ecole Normale Supérieure
29)Northwestern University
30)University of Bristol
31)The University of Melbourne
32)The University of Tokyo
33)The University of Manchester
34)The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
35)Kyoto University
35)Seoul National University
37)University of Wisconsin-Madison
38)The University of Sydney
39)The Chinese University of Hong Kong
40)University of California, Los Angeles
41)Ecole Polytechnique
41)Nanyang Technological University
43)The University of Queensland
44)New York University
45)University of Copenhagen
46)Peking University
47)Brown University
48)Tsinghua University
49)University of British Columbia
50)Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg

Source: topuniversities

Useful things to buy during medical school

The following is a brief list of some of the things I think have been useful and worth their money in my first two years of med school:

1. Large, widescreen computer monitor. The volume of information required to internalize during the preclinical years of medical school can’t be compiled and organized on paper. You would end up with bookshelves filled with those gigantic 4″ binders. Therefore, almost everything happens on a laptop. Of course, the advantages of portability afforded by laptops are offset by the tiny screen size. 


Plugging into an external, gigantic screen when at home is a huge advantage. You can actually see what you need to be looking at. It’s brighter and generally has better resolution. More important, the additional real estate allows you to have multiple windows open side-by-side so you can take notes in one and look at material or watch videos in the other.

2. Robbins Pathologic Basis of Disease. One of our professors once said, “You could lock a med student in a basement for two years with a copy of Robbins and they would come out and not miss a question on Step 1.” A single textbook doesn’t exist for medical school, but this one pretty much covers everything you need to know in the first two years. Unfortunately, Robbins often goes into too much detail, but it is the best reference book for anything during the preclinical years. This is a required book for any med student.

3. Smartphone. If for nothing else, to keep track of your email and schedule. I don’t know exactly how much email I get in a given day, but it’s a lot. Being able to check these emails anytime without sitting down at a computer is a huge advantage. The other thing smartphones are getting better and better at is on-the-go studying. I can pull up a set of anatomy flashcards while I’m waiting for a meeting to start and quickly hit high-yield information. You can also use it for quick reference while in the clinics — either to teach yourself about a condition/medication relating to a patient or help out your preceptor/attending (be careful with this one, though, they might not appreciate your help).

4. A decent stethoscope. The key word here is “decent.” Get one better than the base model, but don’t go out and drop $500 on an electronic cardiology stethoscope — (1) you’ll look like an idiot, (2) it’s not worth it at this point and (3) you’ll probably lose it at some point.  A good quality stethoscope will help tremendously, both in terms of hearing what you’re supposed to be hearing and comfort.

5. A good bed. You may not get a lot of sleep, so what you do get you want to be very good.

6. Question and review books. Hundreds of question and review books exist. Some advise med students against getting any of these until they are actually preparing for Step 1. The fear is two-fold:

  •     Students will use review books as a primary source for studying and miss out on some of the nuance provided by studying actual textbooks or materials from professors.
  •     Students will become too focused on prep Step 1 and look past the fact that they need to focus on their current courses and pass them.

Both risks are very real for students.  However, review books and question books can effectively be incorporated into normal test prep during coursework in Year 1 and 2.  The benefit of using these tools in your preparation for regular course tests is that you become familiar with these materials before you begin your arduous Step 1 preparation.  Also, many of the review books contain very helpful mnemonics and tools for memorizing complicated pathways or concepts.  Instead of wasting time coming up with your own, often inferior, memorization tools you can use some of the most effective ones from previous students.  But don’t fall into the aforementioned traps — study primary materials first and only use these as your last bit of review/self-testing before an exam.

7. A good anatomy atlas. I think it’s important to have a true anatomy atlas, meaning one that is simply labeled pictures/diagrams.  Several anatomy texts exist that are a combination textbook and atlas.  I generally don’t like these because I find the text only functions to make the book thicker and makes finding the diagram you want difficult.

8 . Not over-paying for med school. A recent study in the Archives of Internal Medicine showed physicians who went to med school at US News & World Report Top 10 research or primary care medical schools did not perform any better on quality measures than their peers who went to less prestigious institutions.  Med school debt is bad enough, don’t exacerbate the problem.

Source: Kevinmd

Tuesday 4 March 2014

Top 10 reasons to study medicine

Medicine is one of those colleges it is never too late to start studying. Whether you are already studying medicine or just planning to do so, you must have wondered what are the true reasons to enroll in this field, which is according to many the most responsible one there is.

1. Plenty of opportunities upon graduating
This reason is rarely stressed properly, but it truly is so. After gradutation there is a broad range of opportunities for future job. In case you find none of the possibilities appealing, you can combine them or invent your own path of further specialization. 


Upon finishing medical college you can choose to work in hospitals, science institutes, public health care or be part of the medical segment of some other science. There are doctors who are managing health care costs in economical sciences, or cooperate as a part of judicial sciences in proving medical errors and patients' rights.

Be that as it may, do not worry in case you do not see yourself as a future pediatrist or surgeon; you have six years to decide what exactly you are interested in.

2.Working with people
A lot of students name working with people as their primary reason to study medicine. If you are a people person, medicine is the right choice for you. It is of vital importance to stress that to work with people you absolutely must have a great deal of tolerance towards endangered social groups, e.g. the old and disabled.

In course of your studies you will be able to improve this skill even if you do not have a particularly developed affinty towards working with people. During your studies, but also later in hospitals, you will meet a lot of people besides patients - patients' families, medical staff, technicians, administrators etc. As a part of you medical training you will also learn not to form bonds towards patients and their diagnoses or faiths, which is an extremely delicate problem especially when it comes to children.

3. The ability to help people directly and make them happier
This was my main reason for enrolling into medical college. The progress of the human kind and civilization is the purpose of almost all of the college programmes. Medicine participates in this process in the most direct way. The most doctors would say that there is no greater joy than the one you feel when you manage to help a very sick patient or when a group of scientists discovers a new medicine for a certain disease. The ability to directly help the curing process is also a challenge and sometimes it is not easy to cope with it. For this reason your medical education will prepare you so you can land on your feet in 99% of the cases.

4. Team work
Medicine nowadays is based on team work. You will be divided into smaller groups already while at college and this will give you a chance to perfect your people skills. These skills will also come in handy later when you start practicing medicine; not only does a doctor cooperate with nurses and other doctors on daily bases, but he is also a mentor figure and a role model for his students.

Without team work you cannot succeed in the field of medicine, so if you are a lone wolf, you might want to reconsider whether medicine is the right choice for you.

5. Respect in society
Whether we want to admit it or not, doctors are always on the top of the social scale. Whether you go to the theater or to the cinema you should know that you will be noticed. Not downright like Dr. Oz, but a certain part of people will pay attention to you too. This also represents a great responsibility because it is not seldom that a doctor is also a moral authority, especially in smaller places.

On the one hand, this could be a problem because some cannot bear this responsibility and cannot come to terms with the fact that they have lost a part of anonimity that majority of people has. On the other hand, this respect in society is a major factor while choosing the field of medicine for some people. The fact that a lot of doctors end up in politics and continue their careers as politicians supports this theory.

6. A great need for doctors
World needs more doctors. The situation in Europe is really good compared to some other continents like Asia or Africa. There are also differences in numbers and need for doctors in different European countries. A lot of EU countries that have forbidden or restricted employment of foreign citizens do not apply this decision on doctors. In most cases medicine students get a job sometimes even the very day they graduate.

7. Safe job, career, and lifestyle
Another not quite irrelevant reason to study medicine is a certain stability upon graduation. This reason is becoming even more prominent in countries still coping with recession and in a situation where it is becoming harder and harder for young people to find a job. In case this is your decisive reason for studying medicine, be aware that this is not an easy or a simple job, but a job with a lot of sacrifice and personal investment. Nevertheless, a job is waiting for you.

8. Constant ameliorating
The end of medical studies does not mean the end of learning. Quite the opposite - your college is providing you with basics for further knowledge and skill development. Summits and seminars are often organized in exotic locations in order to attract as many doctors as possible. A lot of students see this reason as the significant difference in comparison to other studies and for this they point medicine out as a unique example of constant professional perfecting.

9. White coat
This reason might seem funny to you, this may not even seem like a reason to study medicine to you, but as something irrelevant. Nevertheless, some students look forward to putting on their white coats during practicing in class. White coat, other than being a clothing item and a part of doctor's uniform, is also a representative of the order of the medical system, cleanliness of the job, and high hygiene standards. A tidy and clean coat is emitting a clear doctor's attitude towards patient. Precisely these reasons make the white coat one of the reasons to start studying medicine.

10. Science universal to the whole world
And the last, but not the least reason is a great uniformity of medical science. Upon graduating from a medical college in Europe you can find a job and work in any hospital in South America or anywhere else in the world (unlike some humanistic sciences). Furthermore, the major part of medical literature is in English, the most of the medical terms are in Latin. You will get acquianted with English and Latin in the course of your studies so that words like vertebra or clavicula will be nothing new neither to you nor to a doctor on the other side of the world.

By naming these top ten reasons, I tried to encompass the most of the points that students of medicine name as their motivation for studying medicine and which are the main cause for choosing precisely this vocation. One should also not forget giving up free time which is essential for successful ending of this college. Just as there are these ten reasons for, there are also reasons against, but the final decision is for you to make. Sometimes all it takes is just one reason to make the right choice.

Source: mastersportal

5 Surprising Health Benefits of Chewing Gum

If you have a habit of popping a chewing gum in your mouth after a meal or when you're bored, then you'll be glad to know that surprising health benefits of chewing gum are now being discovered. Read on to learn why chewing gum might actually be good for you.

1. Boosts Mental Power
Chewing gum boosts brain activity in several ways. For instance, psychologists have discovered that chewing gum can help you enhance your memory. An experiment was conducted where two groups of people took the same examination. One group was given gum to chew while the other was not. Results showed that the gum-chewing group got higher test scores. 


This boost in memory might be linked to the chewing motion of the jaw. When you chew gum, your hippocampus becomes stimulated. The hippocampus is the part of the brain which plays a major role in memory. Aside from boosting your memory, chewing gum also encourages more blood flow to the brain. When you chew gum, your heart rate increases and more oxygen is delivered to your brain area.

2. Reduces Stress and Tension
Chewing gum can help you fight stress and anxiety. Research has shown that students who chew gum during exams tend to be more alert and focused. This is because gum helps you cope with the stress that is often associated with tests. Stress is not the only negative emotion that chewing gum can help you through. Whenever you feel irritated or frustrated, you might find that chewing gum can help you relax.

3. Contributes to Weight Loss
If you're currently trying to lose weight, chewing gum can also prove to be beneficial for you. The next time you crave a snack or a second helping of dessert, pop a stick of gum into your mouth instead. Since gum contains very few calories per serving, it makes an ideal snack that will not ruin your diet. The act of chewing and the flavor of the gum will help you fight your cravings for other snacks that are high in calories and fats.

4. Improves Oral Health
You were probably told when you were little that sweets and candy can rot your teeth. However, chewing gum might just do the opposite. If you tend to suffer from oral health problems like bad breath or gum infection, you might want to chew some gum to relieve these symptoms. When you chew gum, your saliva production is also stimulated. If you didn't know already, saliva is the most important factor when it comes to maintaining good oral health. Saliva has antibacterial properties and can help flush out food debris, remaining sugars and other harmful acids in your mouth. Sugarfree gum has also been found to be effective in protecting the enamel of your teeth. In fact, chewing on some sugar-free gum after meals can lessen your tooth cavities.

5. Improves Digestion
You might not be aware of it but chewing gum can also improve your digestion, as long as you chew your gum after meals. Notice how you frequently swallow while chewing your gum, because of excess saliva production? This helps keep digestive acids down in your stomach.

Source: 3fatchicks

11 simple steps to Reduce Morning Stress

If we fail to appropriately manage our time and health needs, mornings can be the most stressful part of our day. Many of us deal with the dizziness of an unpleasant, hectic rush every morning in preparation for work or school, but it doesn’t have to be this way. 

With a little sensible time management your morning stress can be drastically abbreviated. Here are 11 simple steps you can follow to proactively reduce your level of morning stress.

Create an Evening Preparation Routine - An evening routine in preparation for the morning, that is. Iron your clothes, prepare your lunch, locate your keys, plan a nutritious breakfast, etc. These simple tasks will take you less than 30 minutes to complete each evening and will save you a huge headache every morning.

Plan a Realistic Day – Write a short “Must Do Today” list every evening for the following day. Never fill your mind with unnecessary worries in the excess of this list. Write down anything that cannot be pushed off to the following day. Avoid the tendency to overpopulate this list, and thus your schedule, with unrealistic goals.

Eliminate Known Aggravations - If your alarm clock makes a horribly annoying sound, the electric razor burns your skin, and your car’s windshield wipers are faulty… fix the problems and eliminate the stress factors permanently from your life. There is absolutely no reason to deal with habitual aggravations that can easily be resolved with a little time and money.

Get a Good Night’s Sleep – Make sure you start winding down for bed at a reasonable hour to allow enough time for a healthy night’s sleep. Most people require between 7 and 8 hours each night. If needed, set a bedtime reminder alarm on your alarm clock. Always keep the temperature in your bedroom comfortably cool. Studies from the National Sleep Foundation suggest the ideal temperature for sleeping is somewhere between 54 and 75 degrees Fahrenheit. Also, go easy on afternoon caffeine intake. When caffeine is consumed late in the day the quality of your sleep usually suffers.

Wake Up 30 Minutes Earlier – An extra 30 minutes in the morning is the difference between peaceful harmony and rapid-fire pandemonium. As long as you get to bed on time, waking up 30 minutes earlier should seem natural after just a few days. Use this time to think, stretch, shower, eat breakfast, and account for any unanticipated bumps in your morning routine.

Drink a Glass of Water First Thing – Water makes up between 60% - 70% of your body composition. It is absolutely vital to stay properly hydrated. Even mild dehydration can cause your blood to thicken. This forces your heart to work double-time in order to push the necessary blood to your organs, which will result in noticeable mental fatigue. Also, a hydrated body is more efficient at dispersing energy-building nutrients to all its extremities. Since the average human body becomes slightly dehydrated over the course of a long sleep, you should drink a tall glass of water first thing when you wake up.

Do a Light 10 Minute Stretching Workout – Do you feel a little groggy when you first wake up? This is completely normal. All you need to do is get your blood flowing, which will assist your body in transitioning between the sleeping and awake states. Once you do, you’ll feel great. Place a matt or towel on a carpeted floor. Lie on your back and stretch your arms as far as you can in one direction while stretching your toes out in the opposite direction. Then stand up and do some knee raises and toe touches. If you are feeling up to it, add in a few sit-ups and push-ups.

Do a Light 10 Minute Stretching Workout – Do you feel a little groggy when you first wake up? This is completely normal. All you need to do is get your blood flowing, which will assist your body in transitioning between the sleeping and awake states. Once you do, you’ll feel great. Place a matt or towel on a carpeted floor. Lie on your back and stretch your arms as far as you can in one direction while stretching your toes out in the opposite direction. Then stand up and do some knee raises and toe touches. If you are feeling up to it, add in a few sit-ups and push-ups.

Listen to Music and Take a Hot Shower – Music injects positive, motivational influence into your mind. You should listen to music that makes you happy every morning while you progress through your routine. Also, a hot shower can be one of the most soothing experiences early in the morning. The fresh, revitalized feeling you have stepping out of the shower will spill over as positivity into your first few tasks of the day.

Keep a Clean, Organized Living Space – Create order in your life and living space. Organize your home so that you always know exactly where your belongings are. Then, consciously put your belongings away in their proper place each time you use them. Doing so will eliminate the unproductive, stress filled moments of searching for something you’ve misplaced.

Never Drive Home with an Empty Gas Tank – Filling up a car’s gas tank is so darn easy, but it does take a few minutes of your time. Why then, do so many people procrastinate on filling up their cars with gas until the busy mornings when they can’t spare any time without being late? Never do this! Check your gas tank level on the way home. If it’s getting low, pull into a gas station and fill it up immediately.

There will always be exceptions, but faithfully following the steps above should help you conquer most of your mornings with reduced stress and a lot more grace.

Source: marcandangel