Point of Care: Where Life Meets Medicine
Blogs
- 4/3/2014
A premature goodbye to Myanmar
- 2/19/2014
Better to be lucky
I’ve just seen my first patient as an MSF doctor and the prognosis is grim; she’s probably going to die. On my way to my project site, a doctor from Myanmar and I stopped to assess a patient in one of the communities our MSF team covers. I hadn’t arrived at my lodgings or unpacked my stethoscope yet, but I didn’t need fancy equipment in order to know the prognosis. - 2/3/2014
Myanmar here I come – but not without my peanut butter
- 1/23/2014
And the winner is...
- 1/13/2014
One last locum lesson from Canada
I have a few weeks before leaving for my job with MSF and I decided to head up to the Northwest Territories for one last Canadian locum. I’ve had experience working in the North and have successfully dealt with cold weather in the past, but the last four winters have been spent hiding in the warmth of the U.K. and Australia, so I’m a touch out of practice with all things related to the cold. - 12/30/2013
The reason I'm joining MSF
- 12/11/2013
My road trip through medical memories
We live in a huge country. I know, because I just drove across a good chunk of it! The mines, mills, farms, cities, and villages reminded me of the challenges we face as physicians covering such vast and varied terrain. - 11/25/2013
Goodbye Canadian North, hello MSF
It’s a time of transition for me and I’m excited, exhausted, and nervous all in one. - 11/1/2013
An inside scoop on MSF life
In my last blog, I mentioned that I met Damien Brown while studying at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. Damien had worked for MSF (Médecins Sans Frontières) in Angola, South Sudan and Mozambique, and wrote a book about his experiences: Band-aid for a Broken Leg: Being a Doctor with no Borders (and Other Ways to Stay Single). Here is my interview with Damien: - 10/21/2013
From tropical medicine to MSF: a fantastic read
Last winter, while completing my Diploma in Tropical Medicine and Hygiene in London, I met some pretty amazing people, including Damien Brown. - 10/4/2013
‘Not all those who wander are lost’
A couple of years ago, I wrote a blog (why I’m not ready to work for MSF) where I discussed how I had the desire to work for MSF but knew that I didn’t yet have the right skill set or enough life experience. This spring, after completing my Diploma in Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and temporarily relocating to my third continent in as many years, I took the plunge and filed out my application. - 9/23/2013
Medical career paths are hardly straight and narrow
Ten years ago, as a fairly useless medical student with only two years of school under my belt, I spent three months volunteering with a doctor in a small town in the Northwest Territories. Prior to this not-for-credit experience, I had been convinced that I wanted to be a neurologist. I had an undergraduate degree in neuroscience, had spent three summers doing neuro research, and it seemed like the logical next career step for me. The summer of 2003 showed me that there was an amazing career out there that I had never even considered: remote family medicine.