Sharing is Caring 04/30/12

Thought my friends would find these links interesting:

1. What's the trouble? by Jerome Groopman - As we go for our longitudinal clerkship every week, witnessing our preceptors diagnose their patients accurately and quickly (most of the time), I wonder how they do it, and if they ever got it wrong sometimes, or missed something. This article talked about how doctors think, how sometimes they, too, can make errors even when they have the best of intentions. Heuristic errors. This article made me want to read his book, titled 'How Doctors Think'. Adding that to my to-read list.
2. The Paradox of Altruism, by Jonah Lehrer - I've always wondered- are human beings inherently good, or bad? What about altruism? Does it truly exist, or is it just cover-up? Lehrer explores this topic, but this article is but a teaser. The complete article is in The New Yorker, of which you need to be a subscriber to read it. A poor med student like me don't get to read it, so if anyone has it and would like to share, please shoot me an email. :)  
3. Finding Your Purpose and Doing What You Love: Brain Pickings - More often than not you meet people who don't really know what they love (to do). Most are just going with the flow, so to speak, and doing what they think they're supposed to do. Of these people, most don't care if they ever find out what they're truly passionate about. But a tiny fraction of people do. This is for those tiny fraction of people. And even if you already know what you want to do, it doesn't hurt looking at what some others have to say on this. There's a lot of wisdom in this link. Worth your time, I promise. 
4. Patient of the Future: Technology Review - The future of medicine will be smacked right in the middle of some form of technology, whether we like it or not. At least that is how it seems to be at this point in time. Sure, there'll be people who frown upon technology playing an increasingly larger role in medicine, but it is bound to happen anyway. Better to think of ways to resolve whatever predictable problems than to resist the inevitable force. That's not to say we shouldn't care about the art of medicine though, the humane aspect of things. In a time where we will rely more on tech, it is even more important that doctors master the art and use tech to achieve better health outcomes.