More And Better
The “Diary of Preventive Medicine"
For several years I have been following the “Diary of Preventive Medicine” http://coursejournal_medicina.blogs.sapo.pt/
Through it I have learnt a great deal about health.
Due to the interest that this blog has aroused in me, particularly in relation to certain and determined issues, I have decided to propose a challenge to is author – to answer some questions that would be published in the newsletter produced by the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Lisbon (FMUL).
P
erhaps due to the fact that she is a student in this faculty, and a future doctor, Vânia Caldeira understood the spirit of the questions presented to her better than anyone. Here they are to share with everyone:
M.A. – Why a “Diary of Preventive Medicine”?
V.C. – The Diary appeared because of the subject Preventive Medicine, when I was still a “freshwoman” at the FMUL.
Assessment involved writing a diary dealing with the subjects discussed in the classes and at the same time describing our daily experiences as students on this course. As I was writing this on the computer, I thought that some of the issues might be interesting for other colleagues, so I opted to publish it online.
That was how the idea of a diary in the form of a blog came about. However, when the subject finished, I still wanted to carry on with the project as I was so enthusiastic about it. So I decided not to stop it, and to carry on writing the diary.
M.A. – What is this diary about?
V.C. – The Diary’s aim is to be a blog on interesting current issues to do with medicine, explaining them in a simple, yet simultaneously rigorous manner. It has a connotation that is closely linked to public health, given that it intends not only to be a tool for some colleagues in the field of health, but also an important means of reaching the “common” public. It is a way to raise public awareness towards important and frequent disease, towards the risk factors involved in them and above all with advice about preventive attitudes that may be determining.
M.A. – What about the day-to-day journey through life of a medicine student?
V.C. – I think that part seems to have got lost, at least the intimate aspect of it. Of course the Diary ends up being a journey through my daily life, because it is from my experience and what I am studying that I take ideas and subjects to deal with on the blog.
M.A. – Was there any specific reason for using the blog format or was it merely a tool that was handy?
V.C. – It was mainly a “handy tool”. It was a means I had discovered some time ago with another blog that I write, so it seemed to be the ideal platform for creating the project.
M.A. – If instead of February 2007 it were today would the Diary of Preventive Medicine go with the blog or would it have a different form? V.C. – I would still go with the blog. It is a format that I like a lot and in which I feel particularly at ease, so I wouldn’t hesitate to choose it from among the range of possibilities.
M.A. – Those who consult the “Diary of Preventive Medicine” blog might be on the other side of the world right now (in a totally different time zone), which brings me to the question: What is the target public of the “Diary of Preventive Medicine”? V.C. – When I gave life to it I created it above all thinking about the people who use the Internet in order to clear up doubts, to obtain information about certain “big words” that doctors use, or to demystify wrong ideas from common sense. Yet it became a reference point for colleagues from the different areas of health, which pleased me a lot.
I am often contacted by colleagues who are medicine students, not only Portuguese ones, but also Brazilians, who approve of the blog and thank me for the contribution that it gives them. I am often asked to send more information, articles or work by e-mail. I have been surprised, satisfied and a little bit proud to see the evolution of the blog.
M.A. – is it possible for the author of a blog to have a notion of the number of visitors that take place and the location of these visitors? V.C. – I don’t exactly have a counter for access to the blog or even a record of my visitors’ locations. Only when my “readers” get into contact with me, directly on the blog or by, do I receive feedback for the work I’ve been carrying out.
M.A. – Have the visitors interacted much or are they just passive readers?
V.C. – Every day I am surprised by the quantity of comments that are left on the blog. The readers are very interactive and don’t just say congratulations or thanks for the contents of the Diary, as well as being extremely generous. They share their life stories, their anguishes and fears. They talk about their medical histories and their diagnoses. I’m not the one who gives them something; they give me much more. I provide the theory and they give me the story in the first person, the suffering associated to it and the way that their illnesses have developed.
It also makes me very happy to see that sometimes my blog is the meeting point for patients with similar pathologies. I particularly remember a post I wrote about Marfan Syndrome, an illness classified as rare, and which set off an impetuous list of comments signed by people with this pathology. They exchanged ideas and they even wanted to organise themselves and create a Portuguese association for the illness. Another syndrome with some popularity in my Diary is that of irritable bowel syndrome, in which the patients share tips and improvement factors based on their personal history and experience.
There are also more complicated cases, involving great suffering or anxiety, which I receive by e-mail. Each story affects me in a very special way, and creates a bond between me and the person on the other side. I try to break down the anxiety and direct the people to specialist doctors when they are more disorientated and unprotected. It is very gratifying to feel that my blog is useful to these people.
M.A. – In what sense might the Diary of Preventive Medicine be somehow influenced by its readers?
V.C. – In all possible senses. On the one hand it is created thinking about these very readers, always trying to give useful and comprehensible information, easy to access and trustworthy, and also with advice about the subjects it discusses. On the other hand, it is influenced by the readers in the sense that I become aware of the subjects that most interest the target public and I try to deal with them. Besides this, I always try to reply to the doubts that I am presented with, which also conditions the information available on the blog.
M.A. – Has anyone ever asked you “Aren’t you the author of the “Diary of Preventive Medicine”? Or, at least at a social event, someone has come to you saying: “I know you from some Medicine blog or other, but I don’t remember what…”?
V.C. – Yes. Episodes like that have happened to me at congresses with colleagues from medicine from other faculties, who recognise me and ask me whether I am “that colleague who has a blog on Preventive Medicine”. It’s very funny when it happens.
M.A. – In what way is the Diary of Preventive Medicine an advantage in your studies?
V.C. – It is an opportunity to go deeper into some subjects that I come across in my life as a student, while I am researching into different sources to choose the material. Of course I then try to summarise the matter in a clear way, accessible to the public in general, but the preparation work is particularly useful in order to broaden my knowledge.
M.A. – Might a blog, with the due rules foreseeing this situation, become a valid and common element for assessment?
V.C. – In our faculties there is no support for a spirit that might allow much room for variations in medical assessment. This is invariably focused on written exams. In any case, I think that it could without any doubt become a complementary element in assessment.
M.A. – Might one think that the contents of the blog are an aid for other colleagues on the course, or is it just a source of inspiration to feed (even more) your passion for medicine?
V.C. – I think that the blog expands in both areas. On the one hand, and thanks to the interesting and diversified issues it deals with, it may stimulate the general public’s interest towards health, and that of some secondary school students towards studying medicine. On the other hand, and thanks to the feedback I have received, I know that the blog is an important source of research, a starting point for works or for information about different pathologies. It is also a way of feeding my passion for and my interest in medical issues through exploring them.
M.A. – What about arousing vocations, particularly among the younger readers?
V.C. – I like to think that my liking for medicine is contagious and arouses vocations in anyone who looks over the blog. Medicine is a very rich and thrilling area that needs more people willing to study and work, so it would be great to arouse possible vocations towards the medical area hidden inside secondary school pupils.
M.A. – Medicine students are increasingly seen as young people deprived of free time; how is it possible for a 4th Year medical student to find time to write a blog, above all about medicine?
V.C. – My will and my interest in the subjects I deal with are the major driving forces in this project. Besides this, and with some malleability and capacity for organization, I can get round that relative lack of time and have time for what I most like to do: reading, going to the cinema, going for walks or writing in my blogs.
M.A. – Are there many blogs like this or is it a one-off original?
V.C. – I don’t surf much looking for blogs like this, so I can’t give a firm answer. However, there are some blogs with a more specific nature, devoted to a pathology or to an area of illnesses or a specialty.
M.A. – Will the blog die at the end of the course, or will it be a crusade throughout time?V.C. – It certainly won’t die. As long as I feel passion for medicine and consider that it is fundamental to raise awareness about Preventive Medicine and about public health issues I will continue to try to guide this mission I have set myself. Enjoying helping others, clarifying doubts and sharing knowledge. I like to believe that the blog will accompany me in my medical career, even if it is only as a space for my daily outpourings or for my most striking stories. It has been an enriching and extremely gratifying journey which I intend to continue throughout my lifetime.
Miguel Andrade
Institute of Introduction to Medicine
mandrade@fm.ul.pt
Through it I have learnt a great deal about health.
Due to the interest that this blog has aroused in me, particularly in relation to certain and determined issues, I have decided to propose a challenge to is author – to answer some questions that would be published in the newsletter produced by the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Lisbon (FMUL).
P
erhaps due to the fact that she is a student in this faculty, and a future doctor, Vânia Caldeira understood the spirit of the questions presented to her better than anyone. Here they are to share with everyone:
M.A. – Why a “Diary of Preventive Medicine”?
V.C. – The Diary appeared because of the subject Preventive Medicine, when I was still a “freshwoman” at the FMUL.
Assessment involved writing a diary dealing with the subjects discussed in the classes and at the same time describing our daily experiences as students on this course. As I was writing this on the computer, I thought that some of the issues might be interesting for other colleagues, so I opted to publish it online.
That was how the idea of a diary in the form of a blog came about. However, when the subject finished, I still wanted to carry on with the project as I was so enthusiastic about it. So I decided not to stop it, and to carry on writing the diary.
M.A. – What is this diary about?
V.C. – The Diary’s aim is to be a blog on interesting current issues to do with medicine, explaining them in a simple, yet simultaneously rigorous manner. It has a connotation that is closely linked to public health, given that it intends not only to be a tool for some colleagues in the field of health, but also an important means of reaching the “common” public. It is a way to raise public awareness towards important and frequent disease, towards the risk factors involved in them and above all with advice about preventive attitudes that may be determining.
M.A. – What about the day-to-day journey through life of a medicine student?
V.C. – I think that part seems to have got lost, at least the intimate aspect of it. Of course the Diary ends up being a journey through my daily life, because it is from my experience and what I am studying that I take ideas and subjects to deal with on the blog.
M.A. – Was there any specific reason for using the blog format or was it merely a tool that was handy?
V.C. – It was mainly a “handy tool”. It was a means I had discovered some time ago with another blog that I write, so it seemed to be the ideal platform for creating the project.
M.A. – If instead of February 2007 it were today would the Diary of Preventive Medicine go with the blog or would it have a different form? V.C. – I would still go with the blog. It is a format that I like a lot and in which I feel particularly at ease, so I wouldn’t hesitate to choose it from among the range of possibilities.
M.A. – Those who consult the “Diary of Preventive Medicine” blog might be on the other side of the world right now (in a totally different time zone), which brings me to the question: What is the target public of the “Diary of Preventive Medicine”? V.C. – When I gave life to it I created it above all thinking about the people who use the Internet in order to clear up doubts, to obtain information about certain “big words” that doctors use, or to demystify wrong ideas from common sense. Yet it became a reference point for colleagues from the different areas of health, which pleased me a lot.
I am often contacted by colleagues who are medicine students, not only Portuguese ones, but also Brazilians, who approve of the blog and thank me for the contribution that it gives them. I am often asked to send more information, articles or work by e-mail. I have been surprised, satisfied and a little bit proud to see the evolution of the blog.
M.A. – is it possible for the author of a blog to have a notion of the number of visitors that take place and the location of these visitors? V.C. – I don’t exactly have a counter for access to the blog or even a record of my visitors’ locations. Only when my “readers” get into contact with me, directly on the blog or by, do I receive feedback for the work I’ve been carrying out.
M.A. – Have the visitors interacted much or are they just passive readers?
V.C. – Every day I am surprised by the quantity of comments that are left on the blog. The readers are very interactive and don’t just say congratulations or thanks for the contents of the Diary, as well as being extremely generous. They share their life stories, their anguishes and fears. They talk about their medical histories and their diagnoses. I’m not the one who gives them something; they give me much more. I provide the theory and they give me the story in the first person, the suffering associated to it and the way that their illnesses have developed.
It also makes me very happy to see that sometimes my blog is the meeting point for patients with similar pathologies. I particularly remember a post I wrote about Marfan Syndrome, an illness classified as rare, and which set off an impetuous list of comments signed by people with this pathology. They exchanged ideas and they even wanted to organise themselves and create a Portuguese association for the illness. Another syndrome with some popularity in my Diary is that of irritable bowel syndrome, in which the patients share tips and improvement factors based on their personal history and experience.
There are also more complicated cases, involving great suffering or anxiety, which I receive by e-mail. Each story affects me in a very special way, and creates a bond between me and the person on the other side. I try to break down the anxiety and direct the people to specialist doctors when they are more disorientated and unprotected. It is very gratifying to feel that my blog is useful to these people.
M.A. – In what sense might the Diary of Preventive Medicine be somehow influenced by its readers?
V.C. – In all possible senses. On the one hand it is created thinking about these very readers, always trying to give useful and comprehensible information, easy to access and trustworthy, and also with advice about the subjects it discusses. On the other hand, it is influenced by the readers in the sense that I become aware of the subjects that most interest the target public and I try to deal with them. Besides this, I always try to reply to the doubts that I am presented with, which also conditions the information available on the blog.
M.A. – Has anyone ever asked you “Aren’t you the author of the “Diary of Preventive Medicine”? Or, at least at a social event, someone has come to you saying: “I know you from some Medicine blog or other, but I don’t remember what…”?
V.C. – Yes. Episodes like that have happened to me at congresses with colleagues from medicine from other faculties, who recognise me and ask me whether I am “that colleague who has a blog on Preventive Medicine”. It’s very funny when it happens.
M.A. – In what way is the Diary of Preventive Medicine an advantage in your studies?
V.C. – It is an opportunity to go deeper into some subjects that I come across in my life as a student, while I am researching into different sources to choose the material. Of course I then try to summarise the matter in a clear way, accessible to the public in general, but the preparation work is particularly useful in order to broaden my knowledge.
M.A. – Might a blog, with the due rules foreseeing this situation, become a valid and common element for assessment?
V.C. – In our faculties there is no support for a spirit that might allow much room for variations in medical assessment. This is invariably focused on written exams. In any case, I think that it could without any doubt become a complementary element in assessment.
M.A. – Might one think that the contents of the blog are an aid for other colleagues on the course, or is it just a source of inspiration to feed (even more) your passion for medicine?
V.C. – I think that the blog expands in both areas. On the one hand, and thanks to the interesting and diversified issues it deals with, it may stimulate the general public’s interest towards health, and that of some secondary school students towards studying medicine. On the other hand, and thanks to the feedback I have received, I know that the blog is an important source of research, a starting point for works or for information about different pathologies. It is also a way of feeding my passion for and my interest in medical issues through exploring them.
M.A. – What about arousing vocations, particularly among the younger readers?
V.C. – I like to think that my liking for medicine is contagious and arouses vocations in anyone who looks over the blog. Medicine is a very rich and thrilling area that needs more people willing to study and work, so it would be great to arouse possible vocations towards the medical area hidden inside secondary school pupils.
M.A. – Medicine students are increasingly seen as young people deprived of free time; how is it possible for a 4th Year medical student to find time to write a blog, above all about medicine?
V.C. – My will and my interest in the subjects I deal with are the major driving forces in this project. Besides this, and with some malleability and capacity for organization, I can get round that relative lack of time and have time for what I most like to do: reading, going to the cinema, going for walks or writing in my blogs.
M.A. – Are there many blogs like this or is it a one-off original?
V.C. – I don’t surf much looking for blogs like this, so I can’t give a firm answer. However, there are some blogs with a more specific nature, devoted to a pathology or to an area of illnesses or a specialty.
M.A. – Will the blog die at the end of the course, or will it be a crusade throughout time?V.C. – It certainly won’t die. As long as I feel passion for medicine and consider that it is fundamental to raise awareness about Preventive Medicine and about public health issues I will continue to try to guide this mission I have set myself. Enjoying helping others, clarifying doubts and sharing knowledge. I like to believe that the blog will accompany me in my medical career, even if it is only as a space for my daily outpourings or for my most striking stories. It has been an enriching and extremely gratifying journey which I intend to continue throughout my lifetime.
Miguel Andrade
Institute of Introduction to Medicine
mandrade@fm.ul.pt
