It’s about the time for our annual frightfest - darkness will soon settle over us. Wails and shrieks will fill the air (and that’s just the moms wrestling kids into costumes). Here is a short checklist of practical healthy Halloween tips:
1) Visibility. This one’s a trick-y (ahem) subject with, oddly enough, older kids. Young ones, [...]
Entries from October 2008
Halloween Health
October 31st, 2008 · 2 Comments
Tags: Doc Gurley Lists · Feature · Practical Medicine
Daylight Death…
October 30th, 2008 · No Comments
It’s creeping up behind you, silent and sinister. It’s (buh buh BUH BUH) Daylight Savings Monday! Honestly, it’s no joke that more people die the Monday after we adjust clocks - and for tragically preventable reasons. Last March, when we were springing forward, the increase in deaths was due to road fatalities from decreased morning [...]
Tags: In the News · Practical Medicine
Emergi-Grand Rounds!
October 28th, 2008 · No Comments
This week’s Grand Rounds is a treat for those who take the time to head over to Emergiblog and check it out. This week’s host, Kim, is a fun, personable, informed, and powerful voice in the increasingly crowded heathcare-blogging scene. This week she lines up the many zinger posts that were sent her way and [...]
Tags: In the News
The Premiere of The Lost Tampon Video
October 24th, 2008 · 16 Comments
How would you like to learn about the world’s most mysterious medical problem? Independent auditors from the accounting firm of Cost-Riverhut have verified that this video fully complies with the Doc Gurley Trademark Motto: Just a spoonful of humor helps the medicine go down. So take a few minutes to watch this Doc Gurley Medeo [...]
Tags: Feature
Altruism At Work
October 20th, 2008 · 3 Comments
What if you only had 2 minutes to explain the importance of doing something good for the world? That’s the challenge present to me by the wonderful folks at WellSphere, when I was nominated for an Everyday Heroes Award. Take a minute (okay, two) and see my response, below:
free video player & video platform - [...]
Tags: Feature · In the News
7 Days And Counting!
October 17th, 2008 · No Comments
It’s a mere seven (count them, 7!) days until the World Premiere Red Carpet (okay, well, reddish - we’ve spilled some food on it) Launch of the first ever Doc Gurley video - The Lost Tampon! Helicopters are whirring overhead, papparazzi are milling outside, and numbered, engraved invitations have been sent…to YOU! Tune in next [...]
Tags: Feature · In the News
We’ve lost our Dick…
October 16th, 2008 · 1 Comment
Okay, so I was officially an Olympic-level grump for yesterday’s National Grouch Day. Our clinic lost a superb human being - and a wonderful clinician - to a sudden, untreatable paroxysm of (brace yourself for this one) retirement. Excuse me? How selfish is that? Doesn’t he know there are more important issues at stake here [...]
Tags: Insider Info · The Joy Habit
Grand Rounds Goes To the Movies
October 14th, 2008 · No Comments
Grand Rounds is back! And this time the host, T, of ‘Notes From An Anesthesioboist‘ (classical music while you go under? sounds lovely) is hosting in six parts, each introduced by a snippet from a classic movie.
It’s a HUGE list this time with tons and tons of great entries. So go take a look…
Tags: Uncategorized
Unfortunate Quote of the Day
October 10th, 2008 · No Comments
In a BBC news report on a preliminary research discovery that testicles may become a source for stem cells, Professor Robin Lovell-Badge (how British is that name?) is quoted as saying that further work needs to be done; therefore the issue “will have to be left dangling a little longer.” Could you turn your head [...]
Tags: In the News · Insider Info · The Joy Habit · Uncategorized
Calling Dr. Barbie
October 9th, 2008 · No Comments
Here’s a truly provocative study - looking at whether or not reading a novel about positive images and weight loss can affect the weight of severely overweight tweens. And the answer is…(envelope please) YES. Turns out that girls who were randomly assigned to read a novel with positive messages and information about healthy weight loss [...]
Tags: In the News · Practical Medicine
A Professional Patient
October 8th, 2008 · 1 Comment
For a lovely bit of fiction that rings as true as crystal, head over to the Atlantic magazine. A short story by Julie Shumaker, titled Patient, Female explores the world of professional patients, the doctors in training who depend on them (and can intentionally or unintentionally offend them) and the tangled family ties that medicine/healthcare [...]
Tags: Feature · Insider Info
Multi-tasking Moxie
October 6th, 2008 · No Comments
Okay, everyone who thinks they can multi-task, raise your hand (while returning that call from your client). There’s a nice summary on NPR about how the brain actually works - which debunks the myth that we can truly multi-task. What the executive function of the brain does (in our frontal lobes) is switch between activities, [...]
Tags: Feature · In the News · Practical Medicine
5 Things To Do For Your Health This Month - October
October 3rd, 2008 · 3 Comments
1) Check - The first week of October is Fire Prevention Week. Now is a great time to run through a short list of crucial prevention tasks. First, make sure you have a fire evacuation plan for your residence. Do you need a rope-ladder for second-floor bedrooms? Second, do you have an active smoke detector [...]
Tags: Feature · Practical Medicine · The Joy Habit



Doc Gurley is a Board-certified Internist physician and the only Harvard Medical School graduate to have been awarded a Shoney’s Ten-Step Pin for documented excellence in waitressing.