Are you an SP who works with mannequins? Then this unabashedly sentimental & irreverent video is for you!

Actor Seeks Role

All I can think of when I watch the SP-inspired "Actor Seeks Role" is how ironic it is that we work in the health industry but have so little access to health care:

This short film is much funnier and more tragic than when I wrote: "SP encounters are not a substitute for medical care." It's so easy to forget that SPs are considered temporary workers at best, and not eligible for the kinds of benefits other employees receive. Only one school I work with allows SPs to access medical care at their institution (which is, quite honestly, a big reason why SPs work at that school).

The Affordable Care Act really made a big difference in my ability to continue to contribute as an SP without living in constant fear of debilitating medical bills. I sure would like it better if schools were willing to include us on their health plans, though, or access to their care at a reduced rate.

Extra credit:
Of course, it's also charming to see how another SP studies, performs, and grapples with how to be a serious actor while being paid to be a pretend patient. Even while obviously exaggerated, it's certainly more realistic than that Seinfeld episode.

Pelvic anthem

If "8 Miles Wide" isn't the anthem for pelvic models/educators everywhere, it should be! By the way, this song is not at all safe for work, not even a tiny bit.

"It's not my vagina! It's our vagina!" Godspeed, you brave and valiant vaginas.

SP encounters are not a substitute for medical care

I hear the GU exams feel sort of like this.
[Opisthotonus in a patient suffering from tetanus via wikimedia]

It's important to recognize satire when you see it:

Standardized Patient Suing Medical School After No One Detected Prostate Cancer

I probably get between 600-800 exams a year from various medical students. One of my favorite things about encounters that include physical exams is seeing the large range of findings between student doctors. My blood pressure is excellent but every student comes up with a different number. I have incredible reflexes if student doctors hit the right spot, but less than half of them do. Very few guess my age or weight correctly. I remember one group of students was once very concerned about something that turns out to be very normal in women.

One of the unanticipated side effects of this job is the constant battle against hypochondria: is it fatigue or is it CANCER? But because I have so many exams, I feel lured into a false sense of security. Even though I know these exams are cursory at best, I also haven't been to an actual doctor in... years. I need to change that.