Health Business Blog

If you haven’t already, please start with GruntDoc’s Grand Rounds post and then move on to the second leg before reading this.

Dr. Val Jones likes to portray herself as the “voice of reason,” so I find it ironic that she let herself get so worked up about the rather minor shortcomings of some of this week’s Grand Rounds submissions. When bloggers submit their best work to Grand Rounds it behooves the host to show some respect and –excuse my French– a dose of humility. If for some reason a post doesn’t rise to the level of excellence, the host is under no obligation to include it. And before she casts aspersions on others perhaps a quick glance in the mirror would be in order.

Unlike Dr. Jones I’m privileged to be in receipt of a set of posts that offer profound insight into the mysteries of medicine and that plumb the very bowels of the human soul. Reading these masterpieces for the first time was a resolutely humbling experience. I had the sensation of being in the presence of a greater power. It’s no exaggeration to say I felt very much the way the Kohen Gadol must have upon entering the Holy of Holies in days of yore. I’m slowly recovering from the wave of uncontrolled weeping that swept over me upon reading this miraculous collection. Tears of joy fell from my cheeks so profusely that they flooded my keyboard and short-circuited my computer, thus depriving me of the last three years of my life’s work plus all my financial records, but it seems a small price to pay to be in the presence of such unrestrained brilliance.

Dear reader, I know I am inadequate to the task before me, to reveal these posts in all their glory. I beg forgiveness for my shortcomings.

To start, Inked Caduceus brings us Tempus fugit.

The first thing one notices about this post is its sheer erudition. Not only does the blog have a fabulous Latin name, but the post title, too, is in Latin! Brilliant! And then of course there’s the content itself. Is there anything more moving than electro-convulsive therapy (ECT)? No, there isn’t. (We’re not talking One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest here and I’m actually kind of ticked off that you brought it up, because that movie did more to set back the ECT cause than anything else.)

And if you’re not impressed yet, this little turn of phrase will make your toes melt:

Today’s ECT is about as barbaric as a routine Red Cross blood donation.

Pure heaven!

Speaking of Latin, Beth Israel Deaconess CEO Paul Levy from Running a Hospital is over in Tuscany.

They still speak Latin over there, right? Apparently the Tuscans (or Toscanos, right Cadu’?) have been so busy drinking wine and checking out the art scene that they haven’t bothered to build decent emergency medicine programs. Luckily the BI heavies were noble enough to squeeze in a little visit to tell them how we do things in Boston. If the Latins kowtow sufficiently maybe we’ll show them how to make a decent pot of baked beans, too.

Monash medical student tells us that the runner’s high is real after all…

Growing up in Singapore, blogger Jeffrey was doubtless deprived of his fair share of recreational pharmaceuticals. Now in Australia, he’s discovered runner’s high, 8 or 12 kilometers into his run. But don’t take my word for it when you can exult in his awe-inspiring use of the English language:

So get your running gear, which really isn’t much is it? Any tshirt and comfortable shorts will do. A decent running shoe will suffice. Add the music player for extra motivation. Does it really?

That says it all, does it not?

Monash med may have a bit of explaining to do upon his return to Changi. (Note to self, can you get runner’s high from rattan?)

This last post from Health Management Rx (ACHE Session: Healthcare’s Response to Globalization) really takes the cake.

I hesitate to even include this one, because it’s likely to make you realize how your own writing skills pale in comparison and may cause you to go into a terminal depression that even ECT or runner’s high can’t jolt you out of. But I don’t feel it’s fair to deprive my readers of greatness, so here it goes, direct from the source, unadulterated by my own feeble efforts at paraphrasing:

Central Question: How is globalization affecting the operation and management of healthcare facilities in the US?

Takeaway Points:
* Reciprocal permeability of globalization (movement back and forth of dollars and people – staff and patients)”

* “collective impact seems to be getting more intense by the year”
* “see hospitals responding in more of a bottom-up approach as opposed to there being a centralized function in hospitals – maybe we need corporate strategies for dealing with the global environment – monitor the environment for changes that are significant in the world.”

Ladies and gentlemen, (boys and girls?) if that’s not genius then I honestly don’t know what is.

Utterly humbled and exhausted, I beg your indulgence for my inadequacies and defer to my betters at Medgadget who will take over Grand Rounds from here.

Share