Welcome to Grand Rounds, a weekly collection of excellent writings submitted by medical bloggers.  The theme for this week is minimalism – I’m going to restrain myself and let the authors speak for themselves:

Editor’s Pick:  OB Cookie, a future Ob-Gyn who writes a creative medical and food blog, baked a funked out cake with Smarties to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the birth control pill.  She describes the profound changes wrought in society by the oral contraceptive pill, and a tasty recipe including how to make vanilla butter cake with white chocolate ganache.

PalMD contributes a sobering, sincere, and poetic look at a friend’s coping with disease: “There is no glamor in her illness, an illness which she fights with humor and dignity. The beauty is in her, and in her family.”

The Sterile Eye presents a photographic tour and report from his visit to the medical museum in Copenhagen, with lots of vintage medical paraphernalia on display.

Who better to point out the similarities between tailoring fabric and making incisions for plastic surgery than Dr. Bates, a sewing surgeon extraordinaire?

Will Meek, PhD presents a model of how to make peace with past events that can cause long term issues with anger, fear, and depression.

Dr. Rich presents more evidence that pay-for-performance systems intended to improve quality simply end up with doctors logically gaming the system.

Barbara describes an example of heroism in her own life, and how rallying to help another person doesn’t make it to the 6 PM news.

Occam Practice Management has a well-researched review of the SGR scare that threatens physicians with paycuts every year, and leads to congressional patches at the last minute.

Lauren recounts her latest struggles with autoimmune problems, including the understandable anxieties around getting a feeding tube placed.  We wish you the best.

Dr. Pullen comments on the dramatic drop in meningitis cases, attributed to successful vaccination of the community.

ACP Hospitalist highlights a survey showing that medical students are increasingly being taught to practice medicine defensively, a natural response to our terribly flawed malpractice system.

Author Lois Kelly shares a video trailer about the book she wrote – a story about helping her mother die well at home.

Dr. Julie O’Toole writes about how early treatment of anorexia helps prevent the dangerous weight loss associated with the illness from becoming severe and costly.

Weight loss, on the other hand, may be good for others, and Dr. Toni Brayer points out limited research that suggests certain genes may predict what type of diet program will be the most successful.

Dr. Baker points out the importance of using severe mood dysregulation as a diagnosis for some children over-diagnosed with bipolar disorder.

Dr. Michael Kirsch examines whether board certification really matters when evaluating a physician’s credentials.

The Happy Hospitalist runs through ways to find a good hospitalist position for those in the search.

ACP Internist synthesizes a few recent reports about the patient-centered medical home, costs, and patient satisfaction.

Dr. Deb Serani reminds us that May is mental health awareness month, and includes a link to Discovery Health Channel’s mental health programming. An Overnight prints coupon. A Medifast coupon.

Emmy reflects on how a recent study proved her increased risk of breast cancer from being underweight as a child.

Clean lines.  Uncluttered surfaces.  If only my house were this simplified.  Hope you enjoyed.

Dr. Val will be hosting Grand Rounds next week at Get Better Health, so be sure to spread the word and contribute.

Please volunteer to host a future grand rounds, too!