Don't Let 2016 Get You Down!

Christmas holidays are over for me and the year is almost at its end. Most people have declared 2016 to be an awful year, the never ending list of celebrity deaths and countless negative political events seem to have shaped the year overview. In medical world it seems as if its even worse with junior doctors contracts being imposed, poor evidence circulating mainstream media and bombings of hospitals in the middle east (a recent BMJ editorial highlights this casting aside of moral boundaries, a dangerous development).

Its easy to think that it has indeed been a 'crap year' but I think this just highlights an underlying frustration with how things are going. Its for the first time I highly recommend we all listen to the Queen. And no not the Freddie Mercury kind, although 'don't stop me now' always made me feel hyped up in a 'tiger defying the laws of gravity' kind of way. For those who arn't familiar with it, every year on Christmas day just after lunch, the Queen gives a speech to the nation. It's usually just a well orchestrated and politically-correct summary of the charitable acts and travels around the world she undertook, this year despite not mentioning Brexit once (come on queenie, its history) and seeming to be fixated on the olympics (I bet she always wanted to compete that's why, corgie hurdles anyone?) she decided to focus on the theme of INSPIRATION.

Yes well, 2016 has left nothing to inspired from unless you are a fake news producer, a dedicated neoliberalist or loving Pokemon Go. We should all INSPIRE, take a deep breath (see what i did there) and take on 2017 with new vigor. And not just skip into 2017 like all the gym goers who will be skipping through the gym entrances on January 2nd to only find themselves two weeks later using their new running shoes to microwave pot noodles in (I might have exaggerated here) BUT to take on 2017 full on! 

What does that mean? you will ask, honestly I don't know, I'm writing in a stuffed airport lounge in Luton so its hard to be inspiring here, I guess what im trying to say is:

"Don't let 2016 get you down!" which may be hard to say to a hardcore Star Wars fan a day after Carrie Fisher (princess leia) dies (she died drowning in moonlight strangled by her own bra). 

Go into 2017:

• Prepared for the worst (yes David Attenborough will die one day) 
• Know your enemy! what is neoliberalism, best 2016 comebacks
• Make a new years resolution 
• Stick to your new years resolution (hardest challenge yet)
• Read every day (top articles of 2016)
• Always check the evidence and for gods sake don't listen to fake news

AA Gill Faces Up To His Cancer

Yesterday the prolific writer and restaurant reviewer AA Gill died. 2016 has been a torture to many and just when you thought it couldn’t get worse, it took away another loved human being. The cycle of life and death is of course inevitable but even that resounding truth doesn’t make it any better. (someone please please put Sir David Attenborough in a bubble or something).

I actually first came across AA Gill when I was quite young and had just moved to the UK, my mom would read the Sunday times leave it lying on the dining room table after she finished. I would come in and pick through the various smaller newspapers and magazines in search for sports, motoring or kids sections and briefly read about the rugby scores or some fantastic gadget that will come out in the future (can you believe this iPhone gadget!). As I was flicking through the pages looking at the pictures of far off paradises in the travel section and the contrasting war torn battlegrounds in the Sunday Times magazine as I usually would, my mom came in once and pointed out I should actually READ the paper and not just look at the pictures. Of course I wasn’t interested in Tony Blair or The Foot and Mouth crisis but defiantly I decided to read something and one of the many articles I read that day was by the late great AA Gill.

Today I read his final piece in the Sunday Time magazine, a fantastically written and honest piece about his cancer and experiences with the NHS. I highly recommend reading it. 

The article: “More life with your kids, more life with yourfriends, more life spent on earth — but only if you pay” AA Gill.

He points out that the UK shockingly has some of the worse cancer survival rates in Europe, a third the percentage as Sweden in some instances. This is primarily due to the late diagnosis of cancer propagated by waiting times and turtle paced referral. The NHS, The jewel of the british isles, the pride the UK, might not be so brilliant after all, AA Gill writes:

“We say it’s the envy of the world. It isn’t. We say there’s nothing else like it. There is. We say it’s the best in the West. It’s not. We think it’s the cheapest. It isn’t. Either that or we think it’s the most expensive — it’s not that, either. You will live longer in France and Germany, get treated faster and more comfortably in Scandinavia, and everything costs more in America.”

RIP Mr Gill 

Picture: pic.twitter.com/A7WI9o8jWX @jenbalcombe 

St Emlyn's Emergency Medicine Blog

Shout out to this fantastic blog! Based out of the Manchester Royal Infirmary, St Emlyn's is an emergency medicine blog full of great insights into life as an EM doctor. There are lots of #FOAMed resources for those who are jumping on the social education bandwagon (a more modern version of medical education).
I particularly enjoyed this recent post about the risks of training in EM and why some Dr's quit and how to avoid those lows. @baombejp brings up the following points:

• Dont expect results too fast, take the SMART approach
• Dont fear failure, there are three ways you can react to a setback: you fly, you dive, you thrive
• With regards to the future find the right balance between competence and confidence when progressing and be careful of the unknown'unknowns (the things you dont know you dont know ha)
• Have a life! why have a job if you don't have a life
• There will be ups and downs, find someone to talk to about it

The blog is full of great posts, I enjoyed reading this morning about this consultant dealing with his junior knowing more than him and the following teaching tips. 

Searching for a purpose in life? Ask the aged

Wonderful article by Karl Pillemer, 'why we should all ask our elders about how best to live our lives'.
Especially a good read for people who are struggling to find a purpose in life or would like to better predict their future self.