Three Rivers

Three Rivers

I love doctor shows and as I have mentioned before I am a strong believer in organ donation. What could be better than a hit tv show about organ donation? This show allows the audience to sympathize with the patients who need organs as well as the people who lose a loved one. It shows that even though the decision to end the life of a brain dead patient is difficult, saving the life of many others is an amazing thing to do. I believe that this is an excellent way of weaving an important message into great entertainment. Check it out on Sun at 9pm. Click the link above to see a quick clip or visit the site to see an entire episode.

Help Save Lives

The UNC hospital needs 10 platelet donors ever day to fufill their needs. Platelets, unlike blood, must be transfused within 5 days of donation. Donation takes about two hours becase blood must be separated and cycled back into the body in order to only take platelets from the donor. They are needed by some cancer patients that are currently being treated, transplant patients, patients undergoing open heart surgery, and those with specific blood disorders. You can donate platelets once every 48 hours but only 24 times a year.
Also, you have probably noticed that there are a ton of blood drives on campus. These have not been meeting their goals and there is a large demand for blood. The process of donating blood is much faster than platelet donation. It is really not that hard to make time to donate blood and you can do so once every 8 weeks. There is nothing scary about it and you can surely handle a needle prick, so why not?
I can't give blood right now but as soon as I am eligible I will donate blood and platelets as often as I can.

Please, please, please give up a few hours of your life to save the life of someone else!

Scary Statistics

The University of North Carolina School of Medicine had a record number of applicants for the class of 2013. 4,116 people applied, 639 were interviewed, and the school accepted 160. 138 of 160 admitted are NC residents. These statistics serve as a motivator to maintain outstanding grades as well as become involved in volunteer activities and other organizations. Applying to medical school is not like applying to college... you can't just fill out a few applications, throw in a safety school and be done. Many people apply to 10-15 schools because of the small number of students admitted to each school. I am sure that the 161st applicant to the UNC SOM is extremely smart and deserving of acceptance, however, they can only accept so many students. Hopefully I won't end up at one of those island med schools.

Doctor Shows

Do show such as ER, Grey's Anatomy, House, and Private Practice cause more people to want to become a Doctor? These show glorify the career. Medical dramas are just that... dramatic. They are unrealistic but very entertaining. ER was on for 15 seasons and Grey's Anatomy turned into two shows when one of it's characters moved to Private Practice. These shows make a lot of money and have a large audience. Do people decide to major in bio/premed because they have a passion for medicine or do they just want to be like their favorite actor? I think that many of the 1900 premed/predent freshman will drop out of the program when they realize that biology and chemistry is not nearly as entertaining as Dr. House makes it seem. I love watching medical dramas but I know the difference between reality and TV.

Stem Cells

I found this blog post about stem cells used in a shoulder surgery. Doctors implanted a swimmer's own stem cells into her shoulder during surgery. After a three month recovery period the swimmer was able to swim nearly as fast as her best time. I think the use of stem cells as a medical treatment is a great breakthrough. If adult stem cells can make such a huge difference imagine what embryonic stem cells will be able to do for medicine.