Man! When we get a good lecturer, it makes such a difference. After literally falling asleep in physiology, we were kept in rapt attention by our Foundations of Clinical Medicine course ...and FCM is rarely a crowd favorite. We had a talk about providing care to adolescents by a pediatrician who specializes in that prickly demographic. He was hilarious, honest and an absolutely captivating speaker.
One interesting point brought up today was how difficult it is to preach certain professional stances when we are inconsistent about them as a society. For example, recently every pediatric and parenting organisation officially condemned all forms of physical discipline - but the vast majority of us were spanked as kids and don't feel strongly on the issue ourselves. Another one that got some chuckles today was how to tell a teenager that smoking pot is bad when it's legal as of January 1st in Colorado (and again, a good slice of the class has partaken... some quite recently)*.
Hopefully, this same line of reasoning will force me to stay vaguely healthy throughout my life, purely out of fear of my own hypocrisy. No promises though.
One interesting point brought up today was how difficult it is to preach certain professional stances when we are inconsistent about them as a society. For example, recently every pediatric and parenting organisation officially condemned all forms of physical discipline - but the vast majority of us were spanked as kids and don't feel strongly on the issue ourselves. Another one that got some chuckles today was how to tell a teenager that smoking pot is bad when it's legal as of January 1st in Colorado (and again, a good slice of the class has partaken... some quite recently)*.
Hopefully, this same line of reasoning will force me to stay vaguely healthy throughout my life, purely out of fear of my own hypocrisy. No promises though.
TIL: If you're younger than 18, you become an emancipated minor if you are pregnant over the age of 13, a parent, married, enlisted in the armed services, or if appointed by court order (à la Macaulay Culkin of Home Alone fame).
HEADSSS is a dumb though important pneumonic for conducting a psychosocial history:
- Home - Who do you live with? Where? How is you home life? Any big changes?
- Education/employment - Are you going to school? How are you doing in school? What grade are you in (compared to age)? What do you what to do in life? Do you work? How much?
- Activities: What do you do in your free time? Sports? Clubs? Scouts? Anything but solitary gaming etc...?
- Drugs: Do you know anyone who has experience with drugs? Do you? Smoking? Prescriptions?
- Sex: Have you ever _____? (Be as explicit as you need to be to ensure understanding) Protection? STDs? Do not assume heterosexuality - always use gender neutral terms.
- Suicide/depression: How do you feel about yourself? Do you ever feel depressed? (If indicated:) Have you ever thought about killing yourself?
- Safety, violence, abuse: Do you worry about your safety? Have you ever felt threatened at home? At school?
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