A Hearty Welcome to the Wing of Zock

That term wasn't immediately familiar to the Disease Management Care Blog either, but then it was reminded that it was a fixture in the book The House of God.  More on that in a second, but the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) has created a new blog by that name. Called Wing of Zock, it's an eclectic mix of writings on the intersections between health policy, society, medical education and patient care.  The DMCB says "Bravo!" and has added it to its Google reader and blog roll.

The DMCB is doubly intrigued because The House of God has come a long way.  When it was first published, its unflattering and darkly humorous portrayal of medical internships was condemned by many senior academicians as an insult to the profession.  While its fellow housestaff were freely quoting from it during patient rounds, the DMCB remembers attendings who were proud that they hadn't read it.  The disdain spilled over into the medical science journals, which treated the book with the same kind of vitriol recently directed by physicians at the television series, House.

Lessons?

In a delicious bit of irony, the staid AAMC has shown it has a sense of humor while launching its excellent blog.

Social media-based writing is increasingly becoming a fixture in the academic medical landscape. Deans and Chairs ignore that at their peril.

The DMCB will need to reexamine its attitudes about House. What inspiration will today's medical interns draw from the "Princeton Plainsboro Teaching Hospital" and how will that play out in the coming decades when they're the ones leading the health care system?