Apr

5

Ask Yer’ Uncle Panda: More on Mid-Level Providers and other Topics

April 5, 2009 | 42 Comments

(In which I answer several random questions submitted to me by readers. -PB)
Hey, Panda, I’m not sure what specialty I would like to do and am considering going to PA school because Physician Assistants can easily move between specialties.  Your thoughts?
I often hear the ease of movement between specialties touted as a benefit of being [...]

Mar

25

Defending the Pie

March 25, 2008 | 31 Comments

(The pie is a metaphor. I’m only mentioning this because the last time I mentioned pie, I received several irate emails, the gist of which were that pie is not to blame for the collapse of society. -PB)
Primary Snake Oil

The silliest thing about the practitioners of Complementary and alternative medicine is that they don’t know [...]

Mar

20

Evidence Based Medicine? We Don’t Need No Stinking Evidence Based Medicine

March 20, 2008 | 35 Comments

The Free Netter’s Ain’t Worth It

I am an educated man. I have an extensive liberal education, a degree in Civil Engineering, a Medical Degree, and am almost done with residency training in Emergency Medicine. Just for fun, I read the kinds of books they forced you to read in your long-forgotten English literature course (not [...]

Mar

11

Rambling Around the Medical Blogosphere

March 11, 2008 | 39 Comments

(A roundup of some of the non-seismic events that have been troubling medical bloggers -PB)
Whaddya’ Mean it Doesn’t Work?
I rise in support of the makers of Airborne, an all-natural cold remedy, who are the unfair victims of a class action lawsuit that alleges, among other things, that the product neither works as advertised nor has [...]

Dec

7

Complementary and Alternative Medicine Month: Finale (Reposted from 12/6/06)

December 7, 2007 | 28 Comments

(No, we’re not in re-runs here at Panda Bear, MD. I was asked to repost this article by a few of you and even though it is in the catagorized archives, I thought I’d just run it again as a finale to CAM month. Enjoy and I swear I will have a new [...]

Nov

28

Nothing Much More to Say About Complementary and Alternative Medicine. (CAM Month Draws to a Close)

November 28, 2007 | 19 Comments

Everything You Need to Know About Complementary and Alternative Medicine (Part the Third and Last)
(One last time I state the obvious while continuing to marvel that it needs to be explained although judging from my email and comments it does. -PB)
8.You Can’t Have it Both Ways
I have some fundamentalist Christian relatives who believe the [...]

Nov

18

Stealth Medicine and Other Topics

November 18, 2007 | 29 Comments

An Apology
I want to apologize to the distinguished elderly gentleman sitting on the hall bed. It was a little insensitive of me to stand at the coffee machine taking my time making a cup of coffee not five feet away from you and your wife while you waited to be seen by a doctor. [...]

Nov

14

Everything You Need to Know About Complementary and Alternative Medicine (Part 2)

November 14, 2007 | 82 Comments

(In which we address more of the blatantly obvious. -PB)
5. You Can be Fooled
I’m a fairly intelligent guy Not a super-genius or anything like that but I can tease out the truth of most things if given enough time and, when the wind is just right, can tell a hawk from a handsaw.  [...]

Nov

10

Everything You Need to Know About Complementary and Alternative Medicine (Part 1)

November 10, 2007 | 72 Comments

(Just belaboring the obvious again. Some things should speak for themselves but judging from my angry email defending Complementary and Alternative Medicine, this is not the case. Rather than respond publicly to private emails I thought I would address some of the major themes of my critics. -PB)
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1. The Imperfections of real medicine do not [...]

Nov

4

Complementary and Alternative Medicine Month Continues

November 4, 2007 | 53 Comments

This Ain’t no Party, This Ain’t no Disco, This Ain’t no Fooling Around
It’s a grim business, medicine I mean. For all the hype it’s nothing more than a futile struggle with death, a battle lost in the early stages by some, a bit later by others, but lost all the same in the end. If [...]

Nov

1

Kicking Off Complementary and Alternative Medicine Month

November 1, 2007 | 66 Comments

(November is going to be Complementary and Alternative Medicine month here on Panda Bear, MD. My recent posts on the subject have generated a lot of interest, quite a few visits, and a bunch of angry email so I believe there is some interest in the subject out there. I apologize to you, oh [...]

Oct

26

Res Ipsa Loquitur

October 26, 2007 | 56 Comments

Integrative Medicine
The term “integrative medicine,” like the words “holistic” and “natural,” is a mealy-mouthed euphemism for such a broad range of ideas, most of them utter tripe, that it means nothing. Although it once must have meant something to somebody, now it is just another marketing phrase to make people feel good about buying [...]

Oct

18

Why Chiropractors are Idiots, Your Stinking Well-Being, and Other Topics

October 18, 2007 | 54 Comments

Beware
On the same shift I saw two very sick patients, both of whom were under the care of chiropractors before they decided to pay us a visit in the Emergency Department. The first was an old woman with a one week history of dyspnea, chest pain, and a cough. Her chiropractor had diagnosed her [...]

Jun

9

Ask Yer’ Uncle Panda….

June 9, 2007 | 35 Comments

Say Uncle Panda, I notice you haven’t written about chiropractors. What do you think about them and chiropractic in general?
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Chiropractors serve a useful role in society, particularly when it comes to taking some of the pressure off of used car salesmen who would otherwise have the market cornered on chicanery. Nobody likes to [...]

May

8

A Quick Note

May 8, 2007 | 67 Comments

100K
My hit counter tells me that I’ve had 100,000 unique visits to this blog in the last six months. Add that to the 120,000-or-so visits before I started using Sitemeter and that’s not bad for sixteen months of blogging. Readership is growing and I like to think it’s because I have a lot [...]

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