This year’s most viewed post and the all-time leader since I started blogging in 2010 was “Fatal internal jugular vein cannulation by a misplaced NG tube” with over 109,000 page views. I don’t know why this post was so popular. It was linked to by a Facebook nursing site which accounted for the bulk of the views.
My story about medical school graduates who are unable to obtain further training, “The lost sheep: They’re MDs but can’t find residency positions,” was viewed more than 8000 times.
“What to do when a normal-looking appendix is found at surgery for appendicitis” was a review of some literature on the topic. I also briefly discussed differences in the way appendicitis is diagnosed in different countries and the results of a Twitter poll of surgeons.
“The opioid epidemic: What was the Joint Commission’s role?” was a refutation of the Joint Commission’s attempt to absolve itself of responsibility for the current crisis using its own documents.
In July, I blogged about “The problem of ‘copy and paste’ in electronic records.” The percentage of original thought in electronic progress notes is remarkably low. The problem of “note bloat” is real.
My “Brief summary of 2017 residency match data” found that over 7100 active applicants in the match did not secure residency positions. This is an ongoing and very real issue with no obvious solution in sight.
Finally, my review of the television show “The Good Doctor” was a detailed look at all the implausible medical scenarios featured. Despite my reservations about the program, it became popular. The viewing public doesn’t know the medicine isn't accurate and doesn’t care. I did point out that the actor portraying the lead character, an autistic surgical resident, was excellent. That opinion was shared by many reviewers.
