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The Firefighter Retires
I’m writing this post today because this firefighter retires tomorrow—and I’ll probably be very busy and too weary at the end of my last day on the psychiatry consult service to write. In fact, I’ve been too busy and tired to post for the last several weeks because we’ve been in the process of moving.…
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Kudos to the Goodenough Psychiatrist for Blog Post “The Perfect Balance”
I almost never write more than one post a day, but I’m pretty impressed with the blog post “The Perfect Balance” by The Goodenough Psychiatrist. It was very thought-provoking and the Stuart Ablon Ted Talk on Collaborative Problem Solving was refreshing. A little over 3 ½ minutes into the video, Ablon says something interesting about…
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First Day Back in the Saddle
Today was my first day back on the hospital consultation-liaison service and I’m a little tired. I put about 2 miles and 22 floors on my step counter, which was a nice pace for starters. It’ll get busier as the COVID-19 surge develops over the next couple of weeks. Being in phased retirement means I’m…
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The Visible Flame
I began rereading the book Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison today, which is Leap Day. Given what little I know about Leap Day and Leap Year in general, there isn’t a connection. I first read Invisible Man well over 40 years ago. It was a paperback and I took it with me to Huston-Tillotson College…
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Milestones
I got a nice, if puzzling surprise today. At a faculty meeting I was recognized for my 10-year anniversary of service at our hospital. It’s an important milestone, even if it is wrong. They scheduled this small event a couple of months ago, but I was too busy on the psychiatry consult service to break…
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The Iowa River Landing Sculpture Walk
I had so much fun with the giant chicken post on January 25, 2020 that I thought it would be nice to revisit the subject, only this time take a butt-freezing tour of the entire Iowa River Landing (IRL) Sculpture Walk. We took the walk Tuesday, January 28, 2020. The weather was typical for Iowa…
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An Auspicious Chair
I took the picture of the little chair one of the residents brought to the psychiatry consult office yesterday. I got a big charge out of it, especially because I’ve been using a version made of wood and leather for a few years now. I think it’s possible that it could be an auspicious chair.…
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Whatever Happened to the Janus Head Logo for ACLP?
I got an email from Don R. Lipsitt, MD yesterday which reminded me of the Janus Head logo for the Academy of Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry (ACLP). It was changed to another sort of nondescript logo several years ago for reasons I didn’t understand. Dr. Lipsitt is a luminary in C-L Psychiatry and recently published a definitive…
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Back in the Saddle
Well, I’m pretty tapped out, so it’ll be a short post today. I’m back in the saddle, running around the hospital on the psychiatry consult service. This is my last year of phased retirement and in 11 months—I’ll be fully retired. I put 36 floors and 3 miles on the step counter. I’m feeling every…
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Informal Bedside Tests for Delirium
Most of this post is an updated redux from years ago about an informal bedside test for delirium called the oral trails test. I learned about it from my senior resident when I was a junior psychiatry resident in training at the VA Medical Center. There was an elderly patient admitted to the psychiatry unit…
Go Retire Psychiatrist 