DundeeChest 3.0

Author Archive

In a bid to improve data collection on the use of inhalers in the community one American company has now developed Asthmapolis,  a GPS device to strap onto your inhaler and track usage on your iPhone.  Looks like it could be a useful piece of kit for piecing together asthmatic triggers, but I have some issues over the name. Clearly Asthmapolis is meant to sound like a futuristic and fresh approach to disease management, but there are an awful lot of scottish patients who might think they are being monitored by the Asthma Police.

Better late than never? The week three study guide has been around the houses, but it’s finally available here.

The study guide for your microbiology and pathology tutorials is now available here.

Please be patient during this period of transition....

Like the North Korean Government we are undergoing a regime change.

We will have to take the site offline for a short period.

We need to password protect some of the content due to copyright issues (mostly the downloadable lectures) and to do this involves moving to another server and a lot of other technical jiggery pokery that is beyond me.

We hope to do this tomorrow morning while you are all in lectures.

The site may look different and some of the links may not work in the first few days after the move, but the core material of interest to you – posts, comments, questions, timetables and downloads, should still be available.

The original website will hold a link to the new one.

To access protected material you will only have to use your University of Dundee username and password.

Welcome to the brave new world (which will look like the old one, but with increased security).

Welcome to week 2. Now we get into the fun stuff, putting to good use all that physiology and getting to practise your new found clinical skills to appreciate the clinical presentation of patients with obstructive lung diseases.  We will have you pitting your lung function against each other with our spirometry machines, we will show you how to help manage patients with and without the use of medications and give you your own personal Rosetta stone to interpret Arterial Blood Gases. The week 2 study guide is now available here.  Of course, all of the lecture material and formative assessment for this week is available on the blog. Now don’t say we’re not good to you…..

So, we’ve made it through week 1 in one piece. Yes there have been a few slip ups, a missed lecture and delayed ward teaching as well as a few technical hiccups, but on the whole I think we got through unscathed. All these issues have now been addressed or rectified – and thanks for letting us know about them early. Remember, if you want to go over the lecture material from this week it is all here on the site as well as some formative assessment to make sure you are up to speed. And don’t forget about the iCAST material – may be a long and winding road to get to it, but I think it is well worth it. Let us know in the comments what you think of week one or if there are any issues you haven’t told us about yet. And if you haven’t already made use of “Ask DundeeChest” – feel free. There have been some good questions and answers posted there already. I mean, where else do you have a students question answered by both the Professorial System Convener as well as the Phase Convener within 24 hours? Where else? Nowhere else, that’s where.

It’s been brought to my attention that there is yet more formative assessment for you all to get stuck into. The iCAST (interactive clinical anatomy and skills teaching) online modules are on blackboard now and there are 5 packages starting with the normal findings and examination. They are all designed to integrate the anatomy with the clinical examination in a normal or pathological chest. I’ve had a look at the first one on examination and normal function and it’s a really good package which goes into a bit more detail than we have time to cover in the clinical skill sessions. The other packages cover various disease processes and will come in handy in the coming weeks as we cover the system more fully. I can’t link them into DundeeChest directly because of password and coding malarky but I will give you a roadmap to find your way to them

Click on “Teaching Materials” on the left hand side

Then on “Formative Assessment” in the bottom left hand corner

Then on “Phase 2”

Then on “Year 2 Respiratory”

Then on “iCAST Normal 2010-11” (or whichever you fancy)

You will be greeted with a long page of confusing text but not far from the bottom is where you will find the first one on normal function and structure.

Simples eh?

I’ve had a message from Dr Wilson who apologises for missing his lecture slot today, a simple case of it slipping the mind. He has assured me that he will be able to cover the material in the two remaining lecture slots on Thursday so you will not miss out on any of the teaching. Of course all the lecture material is available here on Dundeechest if you want to get off to a flying start for tomorrow……

Apologies that you all did not get the pharmacology lecture due at 12.00 today.  I am in the process of finding out why not, and what we can do about it. I appreciate that this was the first in a series of three lectures and will see how we can cover the material for you. More to follow when I know more……..

Lifted (due to its genius) completely from the Onion website.

RICHMOND, VA—Executives at Philip Morris USA this week unveiled Marlboro Earth, a new eco-friendly cigarette that gradually eliminates the causes of global warming and environmental destruction at their source.

Light up, save the planet

“By killing off the No. 1 threat to the environment, new Marlboro Earths will have a long-term effect on the overall health of our planet,” Philip Morris spokesperson Janet Weiss said. “If everyone in America does their part and joins our new green-smoking movement, then together we can eradicate man’s destructive practices once and for all.”

According to a press release from Philip Morris, the new environmentally friendly cigarettes work by employing powerful carcinogens that accumulate in the lungs of smokers, slowly breaking down their vital organs and eliminating the danger posed to the overpopulated planet by the human race.

Because Marlboro Earths take decades to work, the company stresses that people should start using them as early as possible, ideally during childhood or adolescence, in order to maximize the product’s effectiveness.

“We’ve got to get everybody on board, the sooner the better,” said Weiss, stressing that nothing less than the fate of the planet was at stake. “It doesn’t take much. As few as two packs of Marlboro Earths a day can make all the difference in the world.”

“Go ahead,” Weiss continued. “Light up, breathe in, and help save Mother Earth.”

An environmentally conscious smoker does his part to make a difference about once every 20 minutes or so.

Although industry research indicates people do offer some secondary benefits to the planet, such as recycling programs and wind power generators, studies have concluded these efforts fail to offset the disastrous potential of humanity.

According to Philip Morris, Marlboro Earths are the first green product to address that threat head-on.

“Wildlife habitat encroachment, climate change, the exploitation of precious natural resources—they can all become a thing of the past,” said James Freedman, a member of the marketing team tasked with branding the new product. “Smoke these cool, clean Marlboro Earths every chance you get, and you’ll reduce your carbon footprint to zero in no time.”

Added Freedman, “Plus, you’ll look really sophisticated and glamorous while doing it.”

The new cigarettes, released in limited test-market cities over the past two months, will be ready for a national rollout in mid-June. An ad campaign with the slogan “Marlboro Earth: Saving the Environment One Customer at a Time” has already been launched, and the product’s iconic new packaging, which is similar to the traditional Marlboro design but also features a tree, is reportedly testing “through the roof” with consumers.

In initial product trials, the eco-cigarettes have proven popular among smokers.

“I leave work three to five times a day to stand outside and help the environment,” said longtime smoker Sam Davies, an office worker in Raleigh, NC. “And the best thing about them is they make saving the planet incredibly addictive. After only a few hours, I get the uncontrollable urge to go out and help the environment some more.”

Philip Morris executives stressed that the new cigarettes, which contain the same great taste smokers have come to expect from Marlboro, but with nearly three times the tar and carbon monoxide, could make a huge difference in as little as 40 to 50 years, cutting down on urban sprawl, overpopulation, and eventually helping to enrich the soil with powerful fertilizers.