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Copyright © 2000-2003 Dr Mohammad Al-Ubaydli.
Issue 4 - Tomorrow's Doctors
In 1912 Dr Alexis Carrel received a Nobel Prize for his work on sewing. This included a 1908 lifesaving transfusion for a neonate severely anaemic after delivery. In a surgical first, he was able to suture the father's right artery to the baby's popliteal vein, culminating years of his experimental work on animals. Dr Carrel pioneered this kind of delicate surgery, and invented many of the suturing techniques still in use today. To reach this level of skill he had undertaken an ambitious program of self-training after qualifying as a surgeon in France.

This began with an apprenticeship under one of Paris' finest seamstresses.

Medicine has always depended for its advances on doctors willing to train in the disciplines of other professions. New technology can be introduced into clinical practice. Initially it seemed strange - but anyone who teased Dr Carrel for going to sewing classes was silenced in theatre, watching the delicacy of his stitches. So, this issue, Surgical Sieve looks at the doctors who bring the benefits of computer technology to medical practice by mastering it themselves.
As a clinical student, Dr Maulin Shah soon realized that "the key to success was having the ability to manage large amounts of patient and medical information quickly and easily". Although he knew the Palm Pilot was the machine to use, he couldn't find the software to match. So... he wrote his own. With over a hundred downloads in the first night, he knew he was onto something special. Now, having formed PatientKeeper software company, then joined Virtmed, he discusses handheld technologies' promise for clerking.
Medinfo is a consumer health site. I reviewed the site previously in the first issue of Surgical Sieve. It is a delightful example of how individuals can create small, independent, and widely useful sites through the internet. The individual in question is Dr Charles Sears, a GP. In this interview, he discusses the impact of the web on patients' education.
When revising for my pathology exams, I did what any self-respecting medical student would do - I tried to buy a better set of notes than my own. Of course it had to be on the Palm Pilot. And preferably it had to be good. I soon stumbled onto Physik's List, a comprehensive set of lists that are the bread-and-butter of medicine. Having passed my exams, I decided it was time to find out more about the creator, Dr Mark Bailey.
The media is full of news about young computer-literate types making fabulous sums of money with their ideas. But the internet is more than just making money. So, the Haas School of Business at University of California, Berkeley, set up a competition for the most socially-useful idea for a business. The winning business plan was submitted by two medical students and a business man, who wanted to form a web site for diabetic patients, their families, and their doctors. Intrigued, I interviewed Jenna Beart and Michael Douek to find out more.
Two medical students hated throwing their notes away at the end of each year. Why not put them on computer, and use them as the nucleus of a constantly updated textbook? After graduation, three other doctors joined the cause, forming the Clinical Reference Guide, an electronic textbook aimed at students for its digestibility, and GPs with its convenience. One of them, Dr Damian Crowther, writes about the company past, present and future.