January 6th, 2009
The students today should be ever more vigilant about their mobile phones… Although we’ve polled you to find that you want to use them more for revision purposes, it seems that great exam performance isn’t all that they’re bringing.
As the Department of Health in the UK made waves today announcing encouraging news that patients as well as staff should have less restricted mobile phone access, other researchers were pointing to the fact that (surprise, suprise) if you swab a mobile, you grow bacteria on it. Next they’ll be swabbing the patients…
Quoting their website today they said:
“Hospitals in England should consider allowing more liberal use of mobile phones, following new guidance issued today.
The updated guidance indicates that NHS trusts should consider giving patients, staff and visitors the widest possible use of mobile phones, where it doesn’t interfere with equipment, the privacy of others or cause a nuisance.
The new guidance stipulates that mobile phone use should continue to be restricted in areas where critical care equipment susceptible to electro magnetic interference is used. Areas where phones should not be used should be clearly indicated so that patients and staff are fully aware.”
I’m not sure what the control should have been for that experiment. A bleep or pager? Maybe a pen and paper? As far as we’re concerned its righ up there with the Staying Alive CPR research done in the USA.
January 5th, 2009
We were surprised by the research in the BMJ about the benefits of social networks…We were expecting to read a fun run through of Facebook, MySpace, Technorati, twitter and the like but they seemed to be talking about the Framingham Heart Study, which I must say I found somewhat confusing!
Surely this is worth some correspondence to the editor about getting an up to date perspective on what these terms mean to their readership?
Or maybe its just us with our winter hangover…
January 3rd, 2009
Looking at the early stats from our poll, it seems that today’s current media savvy medical students want more mobile revision material to prepare themselves for what are crucial exams in a world reeling from the credit crunch.
So far all of our users polled have supported the need for mobile friendly web material: that’s exactly what you’ll find on our site.
We’re driven by our own desire to make the content usable on a mobile phone, not just in the UK. We haven’t tested the mobile version of the site in anywhere other than the UK and we’d be pleased to hear any comments from our international users…
December 30th, 2008
News today that patients will be able to rate and review their GP on the NHS website by users leaving anonymous comments has been met with mixed response. Since April, NHS Choices has allowed patients to post comments on hospitals and this pushes the concept further.
The guardian states “Analysis of the first 6,500 comments [about hospitals] showed 24% were positive, 27% negative and the rest were balanced or neutral.”
At Medical Educator we are positive about this move - embracing the new technologies to form a closer connection with what people think. Like the leave a comment function on this site, some of the best feedback we get is from the users of the site.
What do you think about the move?
December 22nd, 2008
Our early results are in, and we’re happy to be able to publish the scores so far from our users on the main site.
As more people are completing the questions in our full membership, we’re now able to compile some stats to help our students get a flavour of how they are doing.
Check out our average scores: how do you think you will do?
Remember, these are a guide: we have students predominantly from the UK and across Europe completing the questions, from all years using different revision techniques. But its still fun….
Why not register and see how you do!
December 22nd, 2008
Finally you can have access to a site that will allow you to revise on the move:
Do you have a web enabled mobile phone? If so then you can use it to revise when you’re on the move. Do our our questions, videos and PDF guides from your mobile phone. It couldn’t be easier.
Our pictures should appear as normal, and you can select the answers just like you did before.
Want to try it? Just register (this is easier on the main site) and browse away from your phone. Once you’ve registered for full membership or our free trial you can try it out.
December 17th, 2008
We’re launching our podcast service in the coming weeks. It will include history interpretation, exam guides and the like.
Try listening to our sample audio.
An example history:
Play Now |
Play in Popup
Enjoy!
December 17th, 2008
Our free trial has now been taken by international students. Our questions are deliberately tough. Why not try a sample of the questions from the site and see how you compare to the rest of the students sitting the questions.
Our current average on the trial questions (20 marks) is
46%
That’s because our questions are tough. They’re not about knowledge, but the application of knowledge, exactly what your medical school will be interested in when they set their own benchmark…
Try out questions like the one below on our free trial.
December 8th, 2008
The Irish Government made a decision on Sunday 7th December following concerns regarding the presence of dioxins in pork tissue. The exact source of entry into the food chain is unknown, but may be part of a contaminated food stuff for the animals
The levels of dioxin in foodstuffs is unlikely to have any effect on human health, however all products have been withdrawn on a precautionary basis.
Dioxins are basically fat soluble chemicals which at high doses can have effects including chloracne, made famous by “spot” diagnosis of President Viktor Yushchenko. Professor Saurat, interviewed by Reuters said
“There is no doubt whatsoever that this was a very serious case of dioxin poisoning … there is no other way that that amount could have got into his body by accident,”
Yushenko’s facial appearance still clearly bears the hallmarks of chloracne, the charecteristic facial appearance that occurs in Dioxin poisioning.
The other notable dioxin incident is was following an industrial accident in Serveso, a town north of Milan, Italy. Over 250,000 people were at risk of exposure to exposed to 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD). The toxic effects of dioxins are still not fully understood, however a study by the American Journal of Epidemiology concluded
“A toxic and carcinogenic risk to humans after high TCDD exposure is supported by the results of this study.”
We await further information from the Irish Government.
Sorry, there are no polls available at the moment.
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