Monday, September 17, 2007

The whole

The cure of many diseases is unknown to the physicians of Hellas, because they are ignorant of the whole, which ought to be studied also; for the part can never be well unless the whole is well . . . this is the great error of our day in the treatment of the human body, that the physicians separate the soul from the body.

Plato (Greek philosopher, c427–347 bc)

Thursday, September 13, 2007

The Edmund Rice Dinner



There is no better way to fund raise, an Old Boys and Friends dinner.



Sunday, September 02, 2007

eternity



鍾楚紅 - Cherie Chung's entry in her late husband's memorial book:


"你 知 道 嗎 ? 你 給 了 我 人 生 最 精 采 的 二 十 年 , 讓 我 認 識 到 人 生 的 真 善 美 , 最 寶 貴 的 是 我 曾 經 擁 有 你 , 直 到 永 遠 。"

"Do you know, you have given me 20 years of life in all its brilliance and splendour, revealed to me life's true beauty and goodness but most precious of all, you have been, and will be, mine for eternity."

Saturday, September 01, 2007

Quality



Patient is under the care of the Head of Department, the team registrar is known to be technically competent. A nurse paged you on a early Sunday afternoon and said "patient wants to see you, she's in pain".

You want to sort it out over the phone, but then you smells something fishy, the patient is 23. Instincts tell you a 23 year old girl, "normally", have better things to do then complaining, so, you decided to have a look for yourself.

You then learn that her pain actually hasn't change much for the last few days. There appears to be no "acute" medical problem per se. But she hasn't been walking secondary to her pain in the knees for the last few weeks.

The mother then tells you although this young girl has been review by various specialists during her hospital stay; she, the mother, hasn't had a chance to talk to any of them.

It was probably the mother who asked her to be reviewed on a Sunday afternoon, when she is there.

At the end, all parties agreed let's not play around with adding in new medications, on this Sunday afternoon. You reassured the mother that you'll make a note asking the team to call her, on her cellphone, for a family meeting or something like that.

How do you measure Quality of Care? How can one define and, expects, and be expected to provide quality care given the current provision of acute inpatient service?

Divorce rate falls as marriages last


I hate statistics, trying to use numbers to convince other people is powerful yet meaningless at the same time.

But you ought to be happy for this couple.

knee jerk reaction


Hong kong built one of Asia's first water desalination plant in 1972, it was not needed after the construction finished. In fact, it was pulled down in the 80s.


Now it looks like Sydney is heading the same way.

knee jerk reaction costs.