UpToDate Up To Date

Earlier this year, medical students from Wyoming to Alaska were up in arms about the University of Washington's canceling a heavily-used electronic medical reference called UpToDate. I was in the minority of voices saying, "Good Riddance." Not because I didn't use or like the resource, but because the company exerts a profit-motivated monopoly on medical guidelines. UpToDate wanted to charge gazillions of dollars to provide articles that the authors write for free!

I had gotten used to the slightly less organized and less thorough eMedicine articles when my university's library portal indicated,

UpToDate - Good News!

Renewal for the coming year pending. We expect confirmation the first week of June ...

The so-called confirmation hasn't come yet, but it looks like the threat of cancellation and the uproar from UW docs and students combined to renew the subscription. Whatever. I'll still use UpToDate, but I have another arsenal of tools at my disposal now, too.

Two Big FOSEP Events

I haven't posted much about seminars held by Seattle's Forum on Science Ethics and Policy. They have two fantastic events coming up that you should know about. If I weren't posted out here in the Alaskan bush, I'd line up to sit in the front row!

On June 2, PZ Myers of the Pharyngula blog is coming to the Pacific Science Center for a talk titled, "On Science, Blogs, and Intelligent Debates." It's at 7:00 PM and is co-hosted by the Northwest Science Writers' Association.


The very next day, Melanie Roberts, FOSEP founder and two-time AAAS Policy Fellow will speak about "How can YOU influence the federal policy process." She worked in Senator Jeff Bingaman's office and at the NSF. That talk is on the UW campus at 4:00 in the Health Sciences Building's room 747.

If you are in Seattle and are reading this blog, I think you'll find both of them interesting!

The 'View

On my way to Harborview Medical Center...

Voting in Washington State

Washington voters: You're up!

My last post about how to vote in Washington State was convoluted and heavy on personal commentary. Here is a simple explanation, with appropriate links.

Are you a Republican? If so, half of the delegates will be determined by a primary election, and half will be decided in the caucus this Saturday. Go to the state party webpage. That site will connect you with each county's party, but you will need to figure out your precinct in advance. If you are in King County, use this tool.

Are you a Democrat? All of the elected delegates are decided this Saturday at the caucus. You might as well tear up your absentee ballot. Democrats in Washington have never used a primary to decide a presidential candidate; hey probably never will. To find your caucus location, go to the state party caucus finder. You only need a name and a zip code, and that server will tell you where to go for the caucus and will remind you of your precinct number.

What's my precinct number? Good question. If you know your precinct number when you get to the caucus, it will save you from waiting in a long line. Most counties have web lookup tools like this one for Martin Luther King County.

Haven't registered to vote? It's too late for you to vote in the primary/caucus, but it's never to early to register for the vote that counts the most. In the state of Washington, you can register online.

Want to know your voting history and information about where to vote? Go to the Washington Voter's Vault. There you can be reminded of which elections you have participated in back to 2004. Which is pretty cool.

Want to Reed more about the primary and caucus system in Washington state? Check out this useful FAQ sheet prepared by the Secretary of State.

Were you thinking of trying to spoil the other party's election by crossing over between the caucus and the primary? Think again! From the FAQ sheet:

Voters can participate in both the party caucuses and the Presidential Primary as long as they participate on behalf of the same party.

Both major parties plan to hold their caucuses on Saturday, February 9, 2008, ten days before the primary. The parties will invite voters to participate in the caucuses and will require participants to sign an oath declaring their party affiliation.

Voters participating in the Presidential Primary will be asked to sign an oath submitted by the political parties indicating that the voter has not participated in the other party’s caucus process. Each party will receive a list of voters who chose to affiliate with that party in the primary.

Is there anything else you need to know? Well, you should probably have a good idea of who to vote for pretty soon. If you haven't made up your mind, Clinton (Pier 30 warehouse Thursday), Obama (Key Arena Friday) and McCain (Before the 2/19 primary) will all be visiting the state in the coming days. Michelle Obama will visit Spokane and Janet Huckabee will be in the state for two nights. Ron Paul may also be making another stop. (He's been in WA quite a bit already.) Look for them! This Seattle P-I article has the most current details so far.

This post may not have been any shorter than my last one. Hopefully it is more informative.

End of Days

Okay, so final day (as in day of the final) doesn't exactly count as 'end of days.' None-the-less, it is nice to be almost finished for the year. In about 15 minutes I log on to a web exam for my family medicine clerkship. All over the Pacific Northwest, nervous little medical students (or big ones) will be holed up for three hours in some corner of a hospital or doctor's office answering questions about blood pressure, diabetes, earaches and depression.

At least this exam is a pass-fail test. You have to pass the first time to get 'honors,' but as I understand it, the score is not fed into an algorithm. This is good for me, because as I get older, I do less and less well on standardized exams... More on that later. I have to go complete an academic integrity statement!

I Hate Washington Racists

The title above is a bad reference to the 1980 classic movie: The Blues Brothers. In one scene, Jake and Elwood (by that point, well entrenched in their "mission from God") encounter a traffic jam caused by a parade of Illinois Nazis. They ask an officer what is going on; he says the Illinois Nazis got a permit for a parade. Elwood scoffs, "Illinois Nazis!" to which Jake replies, "I hate Illinois Nazis." They promptly accelerate through the parade causing the uniformed Nazis to jump from a bridge into a small river. (Was the bridge in Peoria?) For a refresher, see:



I cite this example of intolerance because of something more relevant to 2007: Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week. This was a nationwide series of events sponsored by David Horowitz from the Los Angeles-based Freedom Center, a conservative think tank. I was annoyed about this issue last week when I read that the event was occurring on the University of Washington campus, but Robert Jamieson really got me (and at least one other person) riled up in a recent well-thought column in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Chances are good there were events in your city.

Such ignorance as this makes me want to find a 70's vintage police cruiser and drive it through my school's quad (also called Red Square) during one of the events. It's a good thing 1) the 'awareness' week is over, 2) I don't know where to find old police cruisers, and 3) due to medical school, I don't have time for such tomfoolery.

Ruminate On This...

goats on campus, originally uploaded by tom_robey.

Currently at a cost of $750 per day, a herd of 60 goats is eating ivy, blackberries and assorted other goodies along the southeastern most section of Ranier Vista on the University of Washington campus. There's gotta be someone out there that knows if this is cost effective, better for the environment or hilarious...

UW Email on your Palm

For the one or two readers out there that happen to own Wi-Fi enabled Palms, wish to collect email from the University of Washington server, and have not set that up yet, the UW Computing and Communications Department has a step-by-step guide on their website just for you! Other Wi-Fi enabled devices can be set up from this page.

This is the first in what may be a series of posts related to my adapting to the technology used by medical students.