iRADiX

Raju: Wow, look how time flies... Just yesterday we had joined radiology PG and now we are just about to finish the residency. Hey guys, what are your future plans?

Farhan: Man, I think Radiology future is in the dark … Why did I do radiology in the first place beats me. I was ranked 7^th in PG entrance exam, I could have chosen any medical field… I think I made a big mistake….

Raju: Are you nuts? Radiology is the coolest, the most glamorous branch. Some people pay 2 crores for a radiology PG. Where else would you get to sit in an AC room throughout the day in this hot weather? All we have to do is write a bunch of reports and then we are free. To tell you frankly the reporting isn’t that boring, you do get to see interesting cases once in a while. Like today we saw a case of KLMNO disease…What do you say Rancho?

Rancho: All is well, all is well….

Some of my closest doctor friends and teachers have been General Surgeons.

Grey Scale Helps the Red scale

One interesting and rewarding way to learn and grasp anatomy is by practicing line diagrams. If one has to draw something, one has to really observe it well. This also makes one more sure of oneself when challenged on our findings and is part of our training and practice as radiologists-who see anatomy in a way no clinician can ever see.

Show me the fracture

"Son, show me the fracture! Let me learn something from you or maybe, you can learn something from me," the Senior Orthopedics surgeon who was also the Director of the Institute called the radiologist to his office and asked him to show where the said fracture was which he was talking about.

Processes

Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day
        Teach him to fish and you feed him for a life time.

Some technical teachers

Health care delivery systems are increasingly complex and require team work.The technicians who form an essential part of any medical team usually go anonymous, at least in the eyes of the outside world. Sometimes even people in positions of authority-doctors, directors even tend to overlook, forget or belittle the contribution of technicians without whom the giant-wheel of modern medicine will come to a standstill.

There are many such talented people who form an essential and indispensable part of a medical team and have been our teachers in their own multifaceted ways.

Many of us - especially heads - live in our ivory towers. Take the Chief of Radiology for example - never stops boasting of the "State of the Art" equipment ; a fully networked department- reasonably staffed with faculty and residents - purported to be one of the best teaching departments; high volume of patient load, great interventional work, good library and paper publishing record. Looks impressive; many outside KEM believe and think so. But Alas!, here at home in KEM as I listen carefully to my close friends- I realize the harsh reality - poor quality x rays; bad patient scheduling; wrong procedure reports; a mad-house called "USG"; lack of rapport of faculty with colleagues from other departments; Ravi is impossible to find… the list is endless. But could there be such a stark difference between one's vision and the others' perception?

I do not recall having seen a greater communicator than Ronald Reagan. On his birthday during the last year of his presidency, he said "Seventy-five years ago I was born in Tampico, Illinois, in a little flat above the bank building. We didn't have any other contact with the bank than that.." These sentences were delivered with such emotive gestures that the audience broke into rapturous applause. His successor George Bush owed his presidency to Reagan's eloquence. "Thank You Sir" acknowledged the grateful Bush celebrating his election victory.