
All Doctors are Jackasses
SMACC talk, March 2013

SMACC talk, March 2013

I went to Africa a student and came back a doctor. It is easy to forget the growing pains of the student-to-doctor metamorphosis. For me, the once vague notion of becoming a doctor was made real when I traveled to Zambia to work on the wards of St. Francis Hospital (SFH) in Katete

One day, as a trainee doctor working in rural Zambia, I walked through the gates of the hospital to be greeted by what seemed to be the “eeyore-ing” of a demonic donkey.

Mr J had traveled across the border to Zambia from Malawi. He had been admitted to hospital overnight. The brief admission note showed that he was in his thirties and had three presenting complaints:

Get ready to be challenged with some good old fashioned medical trivia...introducing Funtabulously Frivolous Friday Five 140

Welcome to the 232nd LITFL Review! Your regular and reliable source for the highest highlights, sneakiest sneak peeks and loudest shout-outs

Sir Astley Paston Cooper (1768-1841) British surgeon and anatomist.

Research and Reviews (R&R) in the FastLane: experts worldwide tell us what they think is worth reading from emergency medicine and critical care literature

Welcome to the 210th LITFL Review! Your regular and reliable source for the highest highlights, sneakiest sneak peeks and loudest shout-outs

A reflex iridoplegia characterized by small, irregular, unequal pupils, with near-light dissociation; absence of a miotic reaction to both direct and consensual light with preservation of the accommodation reflex. Classically associated with neurosyphilis.

So it’s the first shift of a run of nights. A tearful mum has brought in 18-month old Bobby complaining of a hurty arm...now, manage the pulled elbow