Paediatrics and Prefixes

Singapore, being a Commonwealth country and a former UK colony, uses English (UK). This means that some words aren’t spelled the way they’re pronounced, such as “centre”, “colour” or “oesophagus”.

One doctor once said that the prefix “paed-“ stood for “child”, while the prefix “ped-“ means “foot”, such as in pedal oedema. In a jab at American spellings, he concluded that “pediatricians” are treating feet instead of children.

This is wrong.

It is an erroneous assumption that uses a reasonable line of thought to convince people who do not properly apply skepticism.

“Paed-“, “Ped-“, “Paedo-“, “Pedo” come from Greek and mean “Child”. The prefix derived from Greek for “foot” is actually “Pod-“, “Podo-“, as in “podiatrist”.

“Ped-” is Latin for foot.

Link: UK-Skeptics

UK-Skeptics : Looking at issues from a factual perspective

Excerpt:
“Skepticism is an honest search for knowledge. It is an approach to claims akin to the scientific method. It is a powerful and positive method of inquiry which is used to evaluate claims and make decisions. It is used to search for the truth in matters and to make decisions that are based on logic, evidence and sound reasoning. Skepticism is based on a simple method: doubt and inquiry. The idea is to neither initially accept claims nor dismiss them; it’s about questioning them and testing them for validity. Only after inquiry does a skeptic take a stance on an issue.”

Not only for those in the medical faculty, this is about skepticism, in approaching all claims with a truly open-mind and examining it on its own merits before either accepting OR dismissing them. It’s a good site.

Thumbs Down for Casuarina Curry

There’s a Chinese saying “While imbibing water, think of its source” (饮水思源). It is a reminder to always remember one’s roots, especially after they have brought you to success.

It is a saying that Casuarina Curry, located at 126 Casuarina Road, has ignored completely as they figuratively spit in the faces of the patrons who had supported them in the past.

Having lived near the place for 20 years, J. has watched the place evolve and their food quality change. They’ve expanded, renovated and put in air-conditioning. They’ve changed their operating hours.

After his experiences at Casuarina Curry over the past 6 months, it’s becoming very hard for J. to recommend friends to have prata gatherings there, despite his personal travel convenience. He would not like to eat prata there any more.

Link: a burly dose of odd

a burly dose of odd is the personal site of Cherie Tan, a fantastic friend who’s also a fantastic artist and a genuinely cool rocker-chick. Support!

All the drawings on her site are her own. You know it’s worth your money if you need any artwork done.

Tim Horton’s

Affectionately known as Timmie’s, Tim Horton’s has bulldozed its way into the hearts and minds of Canadians in Ontario. Originating in Hamilton, it’s no surprise that Hamilton has the highest concentration of Tim Horton’s outlets in Canada, followed by London (Ontario, Canada). Driving in Ontario, you can see repeated Tim Horton’s outlets along the highways as well. That’s when you discover the usefulness of having drink holders in the car.

Tim Horton’s is a chain focusing on coffee and doughnuts, named after one of its co-founders – Miles Gilbert “Tim” Horton, a Canadian professional hockey defenseman from Cochrane, Ontario. Now, it also sells a variety of other goods including hot chocolate, muffins and bagels.

Tim Horton’s Sign + Menu

In one hospitals in Canada J’s been in, there are two Tim Horton’s outlets in the same hospital, 2 floors apart. It makes so much sense to have two doughnut outlets in an institution with a cardiac and stroke centre. Doughnuts are, after all, definitely on every nutritionist’s list of daily food requirements. Absolutely.

Nonetheless, partly thanks to one of the most successful marketing campaigns around, J. very much likes Tim Horton’s.

Final Thoughts: North American Elective + Travel Experience

With 2 hours to go before my flight back to Singapore, I thought I’d reflect on what’s been going down in the past 10 weeks I’ve been here.

Well, technically, it’s a flight to Detroit to catch another flight to Tokyo before the actual flight to Singapore… but you know what I mean.

It’s been great. I’ve had the opportunity to meet some new friends in London, ON such as Boner Lombardi (who commented on a previous post on Gun Control). The electives were ones that I actually liked a lot and felt that I was contributing to patient care. The attendings and residents are hilarious in the observational humour much less commonly seen in the straitlaced city of Singapore. The city of London has a very different feel. The drivers are more considerate, the roads less well-maintained, skyscrapers are uncommon and the night sky is often very visible. Very nice.

I had the opportunity to meet some relatives I’d never met before in my life in areas close to Chicago and Boston.

Labcoats for Medics

J. likes labcoats for the same reason he likes bermudas and cargo pants: pockets. A labcoat adds 3 roomy pockets to put:

1. Instruments – stethoscopes, tuning forks, plumb lines, measuring tape, pentorch, pen etc.)
2. Examination aids – squeaky toy (for paediatrics), bell, Snellen’s chart
3. Writing tools – pen, notepad, highlighter (?!)
4. Reference tools – PDA, handbooks, self-written notes
5. Nourishment – Water bottle, granola bars *
6. Medication – Panadol/Tylnenol, Ciprofloxacin **

* – extra extra important
** – prophylaxis: the general cannot be the first to fall in the battlefield!

Furthermore, one can hang a long reflex “hammer” from the buttonholes. For the average male medical student, the total number of pockets comes to 7 – 2 front trouser pockets, 1 back trouser pocket, 1 shirt pocket and 3 labcoat pockets. For the female medical student, it can often be an infinite percentage increase in pocket number (from 0 to 3).

Who needs a bag?

How Can You…?

… be such a judgmental douchebag?

For some strange reason, J. tends to be on fairly friendly terms with those that others tend to “condemn”. At times, however, the herd pressure gets to him and he begins to see the negative side of these people. You should never judge a book by its cover. There, it’s clichéd. He’s said it.

Blinded by one person’s apperance, J. once paid a single statement more attention than he should have.

Links: Singapore’s Healthcare System

Canada is a more socialist country when it comes to healthcare. Healthcare is delegated based on need, and it’s an amazing experience as a physician to be able to order MRI after MRI without thinking, “This is going to bankrupt this farmer chap by itself without taking into consideration the brain tumour operation and his rehab!”

Of course, nothing comes free. This system comes at the cost of high personal taxes (friends of J. say it’s >40% and drawing close to 50%) and the occasional long waiting list for elective operations (for one famous London neurosurgeon’s list it’s a 2-year wait for deep-brain stimulation [for Parkinson’s disease or essential tremour]).

They concluded, “It’s an awesome system if you get a serious disease requiring expensive treatment. It’s not such a great system when you’re well.”

In comparison, Singapore’s healthcare system is based on a co-pay system and there’s been huge cost-cutting measures taken. Very efficient engineering, characteristic of Singapore. Singapore has far lower personal taxes and is one of the things that keeps the nation, which is low on natural resources, competitive. Nonetheless, some people think that the cost-cutting measures have gone a bit too far, and recent letters to the newspapers demonstrate a remarkable lack of understanding of healthcare.

Many Singaporeans conclude, “It’s a great system if you’re healthy. You’re broke if you get a serious chronic disease.”

Fortunately for the ignorant, Leong Sze Hian has a nice 3-part series analysing portions of the Singapore healthcare system. It makes one think. Definitely worth a read.

1. Singapore’s healthcare system – uniquely Singapore? F1 or F9? (Part 1)
2. Singapore’s healthcare system – uniquely Singapore? F1 or F9? (Part 2)
3. Singapore’s healthcare system – uniquely Singapore? F1 or F9? (Part 3)

Interesting stuff, especially with applied critical thinking.

Addendum:
The 40+% taxes refers to the province of Québec, which has the highest tax rate in Canada. In Ontario, which is the province Toronto is in, the tax rate is more about 30%.

Links: Overheard at McGill

McGill University is a Canadian University, which makes it very strange that J. heard of the following website from a Singaporean friend and subsequently introduced it to a couple of Canadian and American friends.

Overheard at McGill – Because Smart People Say Stupid Things

The blog title is self-explanatory. It is hilarious. Go, go, add it to your feeds.