Antibiotics for Appendicitis?

I have had quite the hiatus from blog entries recently. Life gets busy somehow. Ha. I recently had hip surgery and had some blog worthy experiences as a patient that I hope to write about soon - but for now, I came across this interesting article on a PA (Andrew Gray, PA-C) that refused an appendectomy in lieu of antibiotic treatment for his acute appendicitis. He made his choice based on the fact that he did not have insurance and the results of a Swedish study. It is a short read, but very interesting and have evoked some feisty comments.

Saving My Appendix: http://www.pulsemagazine.org

The PA Mentoring Project

While I was at the national AAPA conference in May in Washington DC, I learned about a new mentoring project that was recently launched. It is called the National Physician Assistant Mentoring Project. Their tagline is "PAs helping PAs". It was started by Robert Smith, PA–C and Habia Collier, PA–C.

The idea is to have more seasoned PAs be mentors for younger/new to the field PAs and PA students. These two physician assistants were very passionate about this program when they came to speak to the AOR.

This mentoring project is in its infancy, however it needs more PAs that are willing to be mentors in order for it to grow.  Check out their website at: www.PAmentoring.org


Hats off to these two for getting such a great idea up and running!

Pic Source: www.euphoricbirth.com

In Honor of Dr. C. Everett Koop

Dr. C. Everett Koop, former Surgeons General, 1937 graduate of Dartmouth, and founder of the C. Everett Koop Institute at the Geisel School of Medicine died peacefully at his home in Hanover this afternoon.

I had the distinct pleasure and honor of meeting and dining with Dr. C. Everett Koop at a Dartmouth event a few years back. In addition to his numerous contributions to medicine, he was a kind man with great stories to share. 

He pioneered numerous advances in pediatric surgery, and trained and mentored many of the leaders now in this field. As one of our country’s greatest Surgeons General, he effectively promoted health and the prevention of disease, thereby improving millions of lives in our nation and across the globe. He founded the C. Everett Koop Institute at Dartmouth to transform healthcare and the process of educating health professionals.

To read more about Dr. Koop’s life and pioneering contributions to our world, please see: http://geiselmed.dartmouth.edu/koopmemoriam/.