I knew he meant well, but he could not and would not ever really understand. "Think of it was one, long pregnancy," he said. "I mean, all those eggs were all taken out of you on the same day and fertilized on the same day..." "So it's like they're all part of the same process." At first …
What IVF Taught Me
I recently completed my first cycle of in vitro fertilization (IVF). It is a long and detailed process, requiring lots of resources, money, time, and patience. The first stage involves, ironically, taking oral contraceptives to reset the hormone milieu and force all eggs into a senescent, follicular …
What Anesthesiology Residents Defined As Effective Teaching Applies to Everyone
The journal Anesthesiology recently published an interesting article in their annual January 2014 Education Edition. It's called Resident Assessment of Better-Than and Worse-Than-Average Clinical Teaching, by Bishr et al. The authors reviewed a year's' worth of resident reviews of all faculty …
What Anesthesiology Residents Defined As Effective Teaching Applies to EveryoneRead More
The Kaizen Principle: Are You Living It?
Kaizen, literally translated from Japanese as good change, has been defined in English as "continuous improvement" or "philosophy of improvement". My husband, who runs a patent law practice, uses this symbol as the core principle of his business, encircled by the terms, "inspire, innovate, …
Realms of Balance: How to Assess Yours
I recently heard a very good interview of a man named Stewart Friedman. My ears perked up when he said, "You have to constantly figure out what is important to you." The concept of self-care through continuous reflection and assessment is something of central importance to this blog. The Wharton …
New Year: Different, Yet Same
It's the new year, and I often start it off by doing a little decluttering. In efforts to clean out my study, I came across my medical school yearbook. Each student in my class was given a page in the book that was headed with our (new and strange) "MD" signature and a picture of us in our white …