MOC is stupid

I am going to again bitch about the MOC. I planning on mocking the MOC.

MOC, for the non-medical among us, stands for Maintenance of Certification. IOW, a shakedown from ABOG to get more money out of me even though I am board-certified. $895/year to take a test that has NOTHING to do with medicine.

I had some free time yesterday, so I started on the test. The idea is that you read some articles and then answer 4 questions on every article. Some articles are good & actually are worth reading. Many are a complete and utter waste of time. Most questions on any article are STUPID!!!!!!! For example, one question asked us to find and correct a FUCKING TYPOGRAPHICAL ERROR in the article. ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!?!?!?!?! Yeah, THAT is helping me become a better doctor.

And the other thing I want to bitch about, if I pay damned near $900 for your stupid test, ALL of the articles better be available to me for free. I don't subscribe to NEJM or the Lancet. I don't want to pay for 6 of their articles (don't worry, I have a work-around involving my DH's job at a university). I don't want to pay for an article from a pediatric journal. Give me the articles for free online. The Grey Journal allows it (of course, the one journal that I get & they are the ones with the free access to MOC), why can't the others?

Don't drop them...

Mom's having surgery soon at Mecca. I've got vacation scheduled so I can be there. She's now 3 years out from diagnosis, a smidge over 2 years out from the ureteronephrectomy that was her first surgery for this. Now she's going to have a radical cystectomy, ileal conduit, and pelvic node dissection. All I know is that I don't want to be her surgeon...every single belly surgery she has had in the last 20 years, the doc has come out and said it was one of the worst cases he's ever done.

Officially accepted employment at the place I've been locumsing. Part-time! Woo-hoo! 4 other docs in the practice! Plus, they've agreed to part-time, so I think this will be better for my family. No more spending night after night in the hospital.

Moving after the school year finishes. God, we have a lot of crap. Wonder if the kids will even notice if I toss half of it? My house is cleaner than it has ever been - it's on the market & being shown. Just don't look under my bed - when I decluttered, that's where a lot of stuff went. Thank god for dust ruffles!

A trend I can do without:

Taking pictures of (insert bodily fluid output) on your cell phone.

Trust me, I really don't want to see your mucus plug floating in your toilet.


NOT. NECESSARY.

Thanks!

Oops...

If you are showing your home...having a textbook titled "Vaginal Surgery" next to the tub PROBABLY isn't the best thing to have. Yes, it's my bathtime reading material.


Shit.