With computer being a must for patient care nowadays, our new medical interns scurried off to learn all the electronic survival skills before they started their job this month. Many times, senior and junior doctors alike aren't immune from the trend of electronic medicine. My consultant, to take but one example, asked us about the computer keyboard shortcut keys yesterday. These shortcut keys, in a nutshell, help us to navigate the computer keyboard efficiently. To cut and paste a paragraph, you can do so by simply hitting

We live in an age of mistrust, and perhaps one of the greatest mistrust is felt by those of us with busy lives at work.

This idea began to dawn on me during recent conversation among our medical colleagues who complained bitterly about urgent consultation to see patients outside our department. It can be somewhat frightening to think about the mushrooming consultations within a hospital nowadays. Never in the past were doctors confronted with endless consultation to see patients from other departments (which, mind you, keep increasing in number and variety).

Do you often find yourself giving the thumbs-up to those who finish the job with a big voice? We do. To be honest, we should quit doing so. Here's why.

We've been lately getting unhappy with the performance of my wife's beeper, which makes a less loud voice than before. Two days ago, we decided to buy a new beeper. We can't – and, in fact, we're not supposed to – have a lot of choices because

As we live, we begin to discover what was perfectly sound in the old days would no longer work out in the present day.

Not that I am claiming to be a stubborn old chap who keeps reminiscing about his youth. I'm not sure if you will remember the days when we were left at home taking care of the young siblings. Picture yourself alone with your younger sister, two toddlers not even old enough for kindergarten, playing with a washing-up basin of water. You would have to make

One of the great boons of working with administrators in a big organization is the chance to learn from them. The fact is, administrators always seem to be miraculous eye-openers. Just asking for something that requires money is usually crime enough under their draconian policy. They don't always turn you down – that depends on how you define it.

I have found numerous such eye-opening examples in the Yes Minister series, and – believe me – they are undeniably fascinating and entertaining. One of the stories goes

Sometimes it's the smallest one that gives us the most. Difficult to grasp as it might seem, my recent experience of Italy is a case in point.

When I attended the World Nephrology Congress in Milan, I stayed in a big hotel that comes with the name "Executive." As its name indicates, this hotel must be a grand one, being occupied by over thousands of executives, if not hundreds of thousands. Ah, that's the point, and I ended up paying 10 euros

Confession time again. When I don't have time (that is, most of the time), I tend to turn my desk into a haven of messy work space. One desk, no filing cabinet, and countless documents, letters, and manuscripts bumping together, frantic as atoms. On many days, I simply pull books out of a jumble of messy documents. Well, my reputation of being a messy guy grows in proportion to the height of the piles on and around my desk. Usually, three

"I want to go to Hong Kong," my nephew Ethan says firmly. "There is so much fun."

Why the high praise? In the eyes of a seven-year-old second grader brought up in the United States, everything here unleashes his creative process. New things sparkle. Synapses sizzle. That alone is enough to let his creative juices run like spilled ink; Ethan wrote a funny article for his school newspaper after visiting Hong Kong. ( https://netfiles.uiuc.edu

How often, when you visited the hospital over the past two weeks, were you asked to take temperature and wear mask? The answer, of course, is often, when everyone seems to be on high alert for human swine flu. If you still aren't convinced about the panic, go and read the posters put up in the hospital elevators: they are now teaching us the recipe - if there is one - which is called cough etiquette.

Regardless of the controversy over the need to quarantine people, most

It is no accident that my friends talked about the medical school examination in their blogs recently. The fourth week of April had passed, and the year-end examination is looming large on the horizon.

Mention final examination, and most of us envisage a medical ward flooded with medical students at every corner, making every effort to see – and touch, if lucky enough – their patients. Like it or not, a grizzled man with artificial heart valves becomes a popular Hollywood movie star, and the hospital is virtually awash