two sad things, one happy thing

i have a few unfinished blog posts rolling around, but i wanted to take a little time out to share these three things.

first, the sad things:

1) after an elderly family member of a patient i saw in clinic found out i was interested in health policy, he proceeded to share his views on health care with me. the highlight of this conversation was (and i QUOTE)

Man: "I don't believe anyone dies from lack of health care."
Tanya: "Really? That's an interesting thought."
Man: "Yes. Everyone can afford insurance but they choose not to buy it. Who can't afford their medications?"
Tanya: "Well, I see lots of people who can't afford their medications."

Conversation ends when the actual patient returns to the room from a bathroom break.

2) two other med students (and myself) attended an evening session called 'Malaria Boot Camp' hosted by Nothing But Nets, a campaign co-sponsored by the UN Foundation and inspired by a campaign started by Rick Reilly, a columnist who writes for Sports Illustrated. His 800 word column asking people to donate $ for nets raised hella money from a segment of the population (men) that were largely previously inactive in global health. At the malaria boot camp, a famous scientist from MSU spoke about how he helped develop a new long-acting insecticide treated net with the private sector. this was cool because the net didn't need to be retreated & lasted for about 5 years, among other things. In the Q&A session, i asked a question (surprise, surprise).

Tanya: 'Dr. Wilson, you've dedicated your career to trying to help those who suffer from malaria around the world. My name is Tanya and I'm here with a group of students from Universities Allied for Essential Medications. Have you considered humanitarian licensing or have you taken other steps to ensure that the fruits of your research will be available to those who need them most?"

Dr. Wilson: 'I really don't have control over anything because it's completely funded by the private sector. I hope our net is brought to market, but that's not my choice.'

Tanya: 'Do you retain any control over the patents or intellectual property used for the invention of the net?'

Dr. Wilson: 'Unfortunately not; the company retains all the rights."

Dr. who is running the whole panel and is the Director of Global Health: 'Excuse me. Public health people like Dr. Wilson who are dedicated to researching issues like malaria do not concern themselves with marketing. We are out there to try to help people, not market things." He says this kinda huffily and turns around nodding to the other panelists like they should back him up.

I was totally offended! As a leader in public health, how can he say that marketing is totally not relevant? An analogy to medicine would be that we only care about treating our own individual patients and improving their health but don't care at all about the health systems we work in. After I told this story to my brother, he even said, "What's the point in inventing an awesome net if it's never distributed to the people who will actually benefit from it?"

Frustrating.

Happy things:

Thiru nominated me for 'Most Likely to Make a Difference' on Facebook. Small, i know, but it totally made my day.

Patients also make my day a lot in clinic. Sometimes I know it's ridiculous to gain so much ego boost from little comments people make, but it seriously does go a long way. Some of my faves from this month:

"She is the best med student in the whole med school!" - from a professor to a patient after she offered me a position in her husband's cardiology practice.

"Hey doc, she's really good." My attending looks around, confused. The patient points to me. "She knows how to explain things so that I can understand!" Attending: "Oh, she has to be good. She's a Michigan medical student." (Thanks, Doc)

"You better be here when I come back! I only want to see you." Sorry, I'm rotating off - and I'm just a med student.

even when i don't know the answers to questions when i'm getting pimped, i know that i'm good with - and take good care of - patients. clinic is also a lot more fun than i thought (props to all you people in primary care!)