Medlogorrhea

I've resisted aggregators for so long, but in the past few weeks medlogs.com has become a fixture. It's partly because some of my regular must-see sites have been dormant lately, and partly because there's so much new material to be covered.

Medlogs reminds me of my school's holiday parties, or convocation cocktails, or any occasion where we mix the normally separate divisions of the hospital. A quick peek at the medlogs categories is like mingling at one of these get-togethers, catching bits and pieces of conversations from familiar faces and new voices.

Most of the attendings and administrators are talking about malpractice and hospital policies. Some slick businessmen are milling around -- are they selling something? The residents are often venting, and passing along suggestions. The nurses are swapping stories. The students are spread out all over the place, looking for more free food.

It's easy to keep within one's familiar circles and conversation topics, but you'll find some students bravely mingling in the attending section. Others will be going on and on about non-medical things, but it's interesting enough to make you listen in, even as you wonder who they are and how they got into the party.

Some new finds:

At last, another MD/PhD student! Only, Synthesis and Output has been blogging much longer than I have.

Practice Makes Perfect, a career-oriented doc with a penchant for words.

When in doubt, Push Fluids. Clinical-years students in New York City, with all that entails.

Justin Tsai. You can't say he's tackling the big topics, but it's compelling reading nonetheless.

The thing about mingling, though, is it's tougher to settle down and contribute to a conversation. One concern with medlogs.com is that it'll stifle reader comments -- ya can't see 'em from their site, and you're less likely to visit a blog if you've just read the latest post on an aggregator. (Something's gotta explain the dearth of opinions lately). And it seems kind of arbitrary which blogs are indexed in toto, and which get the blurb treatment.

But medlogs.com is currently the best bet for one-stop shopping -- that is, until group blogging catches on...