My Virtual Reading Room

...if there is nothing else one learns in this profession in general, and in this specialty in particular--it is this:

One must be grateful

for every year
every week
every day
every moment
every unassisted breath

(and no, I don't always remember that, either...)

(and 'assist-control', in case you wondered, is the most common mode used on the ventilators)

This was written by  konstansa ; I thought it was a refreshing (and often true) take on things and I am reposting it here with English translation by her kind permission.
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val000 задает серьезный вопрос: "Что вы поняли за свою жизнь?" Только напишите не сиюминутное,

типа "жизнь прекрасна", а конкретное - типа "Бог есть".


val000 is asking a serious question: "What have you learned during your life?" Only make sure not to write a glib answer like "life is beautiful", but something specific, like "God exists."

Жизнь не всегда прекрасна...
Бог есть. Он добрый и толстый) Только ему не до нас)

Life isn't always beautiful.
God exists. He's plump and kindly :) But he's too busy to pay attention to us :)

Бог - это головной компьютер на Главном сервере, и он занят более важными делами, чем рассматривать и исправлять наши файлы.
У него на сервере есть несколько компьютеров, которыми он управляет, чтобы они исправно работали. Если происходит какой-то сбой, случаются наводнения и землетрясения. Каждый такой компьютер - тоже сервер, у которого на обслуживании много других компьютеров. Если происходит сбой, может случиться война или кризис.
На каждом сервере есть сисадмины. Ну как у нас в ЖЖ) Они следят, чтобы не случалось DDoS-ов и падений. Они ведь не следят за тем, что мы пишем в наших файлах (жжэшках). У нас есть свобода выбора. И каждый из нас пишет свой собственный файл. Мы можем писать в этот файл все, что захотим. Но если мы пойдем в чужой файл и напишем там какую-то гадость, хозяин файла может пожаловаться сисадмину или написать ответную гадость в твой файл. А если ты начнешь портить общий файл (сообщество), нарушая его правила, то придет Модератор и выкинет тебя вон.

God is the head computer on the Main server, and he is busy with more important things than reviewing and correcting our files. For that purpose, he has several designated computers on his server, and he governs them so they would work properly. If a glitch occurs, that is when earthquakes and floods happen. Each one of that computers also works as a server, serving many other computers. If a glitch occurs, a crisis or a war can happen.

Each server has sysadmins. (Sort of like in our LJ). They guard against DDOS attacks and site crashes. They don't watch what we write in our own files (LJs). We have the freedom of choice. And each one of us writes his or her own file. We can write anything we want in that file. But if we go to another person's file and write smth nasty in it, the owner of the file can complain to sysadmin or write smth nasty in your file in return. And if you start spoiling a communal file (community), violating its rules, then the Moderator will come and throw you out.

( Read more... )

Cross-posted to Dr. Watson's Consulting Room ;)

Continuing on the topic of Victorian medicine...here is a poem from 1849 (and still mostly relevant today, might I add) from Oliver Wendell Holmes--a practicing physician (who has made a lasting contribution to the field of infection control), a Phi Beta Kappa member, a writer, and a poet. 

Enjoy!
Cat
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P.S. And this--THIS they should teach in medical and nursing and allied health programs:

And last, not least, in each perplexing case,
Learn the sweet magic of a cheerful face;
Not always smiling, but at least serene,
When grief and anguish cloud the anxious scene.
Each look, each movement, every word and tone,
Should tell your patient you are all his own;
Not the mere artist, purchased to attend,
But the warm, ready, self-forgetting friend,
Whose genial visit in itself combines
The best of cordials, tonics, anodynes.

( Poem here: )