iMedic

Shopping basket patrol

If you're like me and go to the supermarket with a very persuasive devil on your shoulder, you may be interested in research currently published in the Public Library of Science's journal. The study of almost 500 Australian shoppers at an online food store used a computer program to offer healthy alternatives when fatty foods were placed in the basket. Many of these shoppers opted for the alternative, and reduced the saturated fat content of their baskets by 10% compared to the control group. Interestingly, there was no significant difference in the price of food purchased between the two groups.

The findings raise the possibility of extending the program for use beyond dietary fat reduction:

Investigator Dr Bruce Neal said: "It could provide advice about salt intake or advice to consumers with specific disease states such as diabetes, high blood pressure or high cholesterol."

Read the article in full at PLoS Clinical Trials

Connecting for Health

The Connecting for Health website runs though the plans for overhaul of the NHS IT system (which I only really think about when I come across the regular news reports that about the programme is behind schedule and running over budget). A brief summary of what is in store:

The National Programme for IT is creating a multi-billion pound infrastructure, which will improve patient care by enabling clinicians and other NHS staff to increase their efficiency and effectiveness.

It is doing this by:

• creating an NHS Care Records Service to improve the sharing of patients' records across the NHS with their consent

• making it easier and faster for GPs and other primary care staff to book hospital appointments for patients

• providing a system for the electronic transmission of prescriptions

• ensuring that the IT infrastructure can meet NHS needs now and in the future.

Find out more at Connecting for Health

BMJ Learning

BMJ Learning (registration required) went live a few weeks ago and is fast becoming a very useful tool. The courses and conferences guide and growing collection of online learning modules have your continuing education covered. Foundation doctors will find the Foundation Programme section of the website a godsend, allowing you to fill in your portfolio online and make sense of the somewhat chaotic array of forms handed to you at induction. As the name suggests, the website is part of the BMJ Publishing Group and uses other members of the family, such as Clinical Evidence and the BMJ, to provide its resources.

Script for success

The editorial in the BMJ this week about medical students being unprepared for prescribing will come as no surprise to those of you who remember your first few days on the wards, when a simple request for laxatives would have you scurrying off to find the nearest BNF. Ideally we would have paid more attention in our (few) pharmacology lectures and had more teaching on practical drug therapy, but as that's not possible, here are some websites that may be of use:

• The GMC's guidance on prescribing
• The BNF
• Prescribing advice from the Student BMJ
• Prescribing Advice for GPs, an NHS Prescribing Advisors' blog
• A selection of websites to help you refresh your pharmacology: Flesh and Bones basic guide to pharmacology (registration required), PharmWeb, flashcards from the University of Utah's medical student website, and online quizzes courtesy of Tulane School of Medicine and Pharmacology 2000

Hiatus now over

One of the things iMedic is about is trying to use the gadgets around us to make our lives easier, less chaotic and more productive. There is a little irony in the fact that I'm sooooo productive I haven't updated in three months. Well, iMedic will be rearing it's geeky head again very soon, trying to follow its own advice and find time to update regularly.

In the meantime, a friend has written an article in this month's Student BMJ about handheld basics that is worth checking out if you've toyed with the idea of getting one. PDAs are few and far between amongst medics here, which is odd when you think about how well the two go together. We Brits are suckers for mobile phones though, so maybe the UK launch of the Treo 650, a PDA/phone hybrid where we can store the BNF alongside our chart-topping annoying ringtones, will be the start of the handheld revolution.

Working abroad

With all this confusion over changes in training and the European Working Time Directive, I've often considered waving goodbye to the NHS and practicing abroad. Actually, it's got nothing to do with the proposals for foundation years and basic specialist training: I just want to live somewhere warmer. This was only intensified (to the order of about 600 billion) when carrying out my elective in California, so while I know that when push comes to shove I'd find it incredibily difficult to actually leave home, I still like to explore my overseas options from time to time.

The Residency Database may be just the thing I need. Created and compiled by medical students as part of an IFSMA project, it lists information on health systems in a number of countries and outlines the hoops you need to jump through in order to work there.

No field outlining the average climate however.

It's not April 1st yet, is it?

I found myself asking myself this question while reading about the Toto Intelligence Toilet over at Gizmodo. If true, it promises to measure urine sugar, blood pressure, body fat and weight on a daily basis. If not, you'll just have to stick to contemplating life and reading the paper during your quality loo time. Either way, Toto Intelligence Toilet is one of the best phrases I've heard in a while.

Score jobs with Jobscore

Rating everything from the quality of the Mess to the availability of out of hours phlebs, Jobscore is a reviews database of hospital jobs, spanning all grades and specialties. Although it is still in its infancy, there are a growing number of reviews and this has the potential to become a useful aid for job applications. It uses a standard questionnaire to score various aspects of the post, coming up with an overall score which then contributes to a ranking for the hospital. You need to register and write a report before being able to access the reviews.

While it is still early days, I can't help but compare it to the format adopted at the US-equivalent, Scutwork, which allows for ratings AND freeform reviews. A quick visit of both sites will also highlight differences in accessibility and user-friendliness. However, in the interests of not judging too soon, I am just going to be grateful that something of this nature is now available in the UK. Here's to the more informed job selections of the future!

Sort your life out

Star Organizer has a good collection of links to lists and documents to help get your life in order. Some of my favourites include a moving checklist, time management worksheet (which I hope will finally help me break my habit of spending more time planning revision than actually revising), and tips on organizing your job search (all are pdf files requiring Adobe Acrobat or some such reader). All this and more here.

Eye-Spy something beginning with G

The New Scientist reports that researchers at the University of Maryland have developed contact lenses that change their appearance according to the wearer's blood sugar level.

"To make glucose-sensing contacts, scientists added boronic acid to disposable contact lenses. Moisture from the tear ducts contains glucose that binds with the molecules of boronic acid, with the reaction causing fluorescence. A handheld device flashes a blue light into the eye and measures the intensity of the resulting glow, letting the user know their blood glucose level."

Lead author of the study Chris Geddes and his team at the Center for Fluroscence Spectroscopy are also working on lenses that would be able to monitor levels of sodium, potassium, and cholesterol. The full article can be found in this month's Current Opinion in Biotechnology.