WILTIMS #408: Intersession

Today was a weird day for a couple reasons. First, the entire third-year class was back together. Normally we are scattered to the winds, at hospitals in five boroughs, a half-dozen counties, and three states, and learning nearly every field of medicine. We are all between clerkships and all halfway through the year - hence the impressive sounding title for the day: "Intersession 2016".

Today was also weird because the subject matter was surprisingly philosophical. We started the day learning about the cost of medical care and how we tend to order far more tests than are actually useful (even if they weren't stupidly expensive). Often tests are ordered, just because that's what is expected, as was poiniently displayed in this clip from the show Scrubs:

Next we were lectured on health care policy by our dean of medicine, who expanded on his talk from our third-year orientation. Lastly, the driest speakers of the day taught us about the hospital policies in place to deal with and prevent medical errors. It was sad that the latter presentation was so lackluster given its importance, but I guess they all can't be winners.

Word of the Day: Anti-mentor - (n.) a person who through example shows you how NOT to act.

TIL: The cost of medical procedures is really stupid and seemingly arbitrary. CT $1000: Really? MRI $2000: Sure, I guess? Echo (cardiac ultrasound) $1500: Wait, what? Why?!

Please don't judge doctors too harshly for the cost of the things they order - we rarely have any say in it. In a world of finite resources, cost should be part of what we weigh into our decisions, but often physicians simply don't take money into consideration - not that their actual justification is necessarily good either.