Friday's Digest - The Newsletter for Doctors & Scientists

Friday's Digest - Issue #23

How I read 1000 articles last year in 22 minutes a day

Today I’ll guide you step-by-step so you can do it too.
And most importantly, enjoy the process!

Initial setup: 10 minutes. Price: free.

January 27th, 2023

Friday's Digest - The Newsletter for Doctors & Scientists

For two decades, I've been developing tools that have improved my practice in medicine, dentistry, and scientific research.

Join me every Friday to discover a new tool you can integrate into your workflow as a doctor, a scientist, or both.

I believe in sharing knowledge, embracing automation, boosting productivity, and finding joy in the process.

If you prefer video guides over text guides, this one is for you!

In this video, I will show you how to have your phone automatically pull manuscripts from PubMed according to your keywords:

Preface
Main Article
OMFS World

Preface

Last week we enjoyed the long weekend. We took the car and headed south.

It was a heavy snow day, but managing snow is very efficient here. It is plowed off the roads throughout the day, and the highways remain completely clear. Aside from constantly using the windshield sprinkles to clear grey mud sprayed from the road, it was like driving in the rain.

Next, we had a traditional New England breakfast. Secondborn went all the way and had maple syrup pancakes. Firstborn had his favorite bagel and cheese combo. My dear wife and enjoyed our toasts, egg-white, and vegetable types of food.

Hoping it would drain some of their never-ending energy, we took the kids to a nearby recreation center. Well, three and a half hours later, their energy was reduced by, let’s say, 20%. Famished as we were, our next stop was dinner.

If you’re looking for an amazing Brazilian meat experience, you should check out this restaurant my dear wife found. This all-you-can-eat meat extravaganza is a great journey through the flavors of Brazilian cuisine. With a variety of salads to choose from, this restaurant offers something for everyone. If you’re in the neighborhood, you should definitely pay them a visit.

So that was a weekend well spent.

Today we will take your scientific literature habits to a new level. Over the last 15 years, I’ve used different systems to make this process more effective and, god forbid, fun. So now I am sharing it with you!

The up-to-date OS will help you minimize the time you spend on technicalities and maximize the time you spend on what matters:

Remembering what you’ve read, producing more science, and enjoying it more.

Number 23, let’s do this!

Main Article

“No matter who you are, life will present you similar opportunities where you can prove to be uncommon.”
— David Goggins

First, a quick Q&A:

Q: Who is it for?

A: Anyone interested in staying up-to-date in the scientific literature. From those who can’t find time for it, to those already doing it but want to be more productive.

Q: I already read more than that, why should I use your system?

A: My system has four advantages: 1. Fewer constraints - you can do it from anywhere, including on your phone. 2. Retention - everything you read is kept organized and accessible. Great for writing introductions, discussions, and reviews. 3. Productivity - you will cut down the time you waste on technicalities and maximize the time you read 4. Accessibility - no more struggling to find that piece you read three years ago.

Q: Does it require me to commit to a specific service?

A: No. You can access and use your data anytime and save it to your hard drive.

Q: I’m not a computer person. How complicated is it?

A: No computer skills needed. Just follow my step-by-step guide, and you’ll set it up in under 10 minutes

So now that’s out of our way, let’s start with some background:

Have you ever noticed how easy it is to browse Netflix, YouTube, social media, and news websites? You spend more than 22 minutes daily on these websites, and you don’t see it as a chore.

But whenever you want to stay up-to-date with scientific literature, finding relevant material is a daunting task.

You must sit down, open PubMed or Google Scholar, type in the right keywords and navigate through thousands of manuscripts.

This is a passive way of obtaining data. It’s time-consuming, and you rely on the PubMed algorithm and social media to decide what you read. The worse thing - these systems are nothing but inviting. They’re monotonous, boring, and cumbersome.

My system allows me to be aware of EVERY SINGLE NEW MANUSCRIPT in my field. Each article I can benefit from is saved to my database, all in under 20 seconds. And you know what the best part is? It’s FUN and EASY to use.

This system is also great for writing.

Have you ever sat down to write a review, introduction, or discussion and started to browse your hard drive and PubMed, looking for relevant data?

My system lets you filter your data in a few clicks and start writing immediately.

Importantly, you will ENJOY reading and writing, and PRODUCE more data for others to enjoy.

“Nothing in life is to be feared, it is only to be understood. Now is the time to understand more, so that we may fear less.” —Marie Curie

So without further ado, here’s my up-to-date operating system (OS):

Sign up to Notion - time: 1 minute. Head over to Notion’s sign-up page and put in your email address. Choose the free plan, and install Notion. During installation, you’ll be prompted to choose between the features you intend to use. You may skip it if all you want is to use Notion for my system.
Copy my “up-to-date OS” to your notion - time: 1 minute. Click this link to open “Shay up-to-date OS”. On the top of the screen, click “duplicate”, and my page will be copied into your Notion, ready to be used immediately.
Install the Notion web clipper on your desktop computer - time: 1 minute. This will add a Notion button in your browser (chrome, safari, firefox). From now on, whenever you read a manuscript online and want to add it to your list, click the Notion button. A small box will open up, asking you to which Notion page you want this manuscript to be saved to. Choose “Shay up-to-date OS”. You only have to do it once, as the Notion button will remember your choice.
Install notion on your phone - time: 30 seconds. There’s an app for iPhone and Android . If these links don’t work, head to the app store / Google play on your phone and look for “Notion”.
Sign up to Inoreader - time: 1 minute. Head over to Inoreader’s sign-up page and choose “sign up with email”. Put your email address, choose a password, and follow the rest of the instructions. Choose the free plan.
Install Inoreader on your phone - time: 30 seconds. There’s an app for iPhone and Android . If these links don’t work, look for “Inoreader: News & RSS reader” in the app store / Google play on your phone.
Create a search feed in PubMed - time: 2 minutes. This is where you decide which manuscripts you want to review every day.
I recommend using broad search terms. For example, I’m interested in head and neck cancer. So my search term is every manuscript that has any of the following in the title: ”head and neck”, “HNSCC”, “oral cancer”, “oral carcinoma”, “OSCC”, “oropharyngeal”.

Here is how you create a search feed in PubMed:

a. Go to Pubmed

b. Click “ advanced ” under the search box.

c. Choose “title” in the select box (the box that has “all fields” chosen as default).

d. Add your keywords one by one:
Type in your first keyword → click “ADD” → type in your second keyword → click the small arrow next to “add” and choose “add with OR” → add your next keyword → choose “OR” and so on, until you added all your keywords.

Mine looks like this: (((((head and neck[Title]) OR (hnscc[Title])) OR (oral cancer[Title])) OR (oral carcinoma[Title])) OR (oscc[Title])) OR (oropharyngeal[Title])

e. Click “Search” and review the results. Add or remove keywords until you’re pleased with what you see.

f. Name it as you wish.

g. Change “number of items displayed” to 100.

h. Click “Create RSS”.

i. Copy the link that was just generated.
Import the search feed to your Inoreader - time: 1 minute.

a. Open Inoreader (the app you installed in steps 5-6).

b. Click the menu icon on the top left (three lines).

c. Click the “+” next to the word "feeds".

d. A "Discover" window with a search box will open.

e. Paste the link you generated in step 7-i into the search box.

f. Click "search".

g. You will now see your PubMed search name, click the "+" next to it.

The setup is done!

From this point forward, this is how you’ll do it:

Open Inoreader and go to your feed.
Click on a manuscript, and you’ll see its abstract. If it’s irrelevant, move on to the next manuscript.
Once you see a relevant abstract that you want to add to your reading list: a. Click the PMID on the bottom of the page to open the abstract in Pubmed b. Add it to “shay up-to-date OS”: - If you’re on a computer: click the Notion button next to the search box and choose “Shay up-to-date OS”. - If you’re on a phone: click the share button→ choose “Notion” and add it to “Shay up-to-date OS”.

Once you do that, the manuscript is automatically saved to your Notion!

Whenever you want to read, all you have to do is to open the “Shay up-to-date OS” page in Notion. At the top of this page, you will find tips I wrote you so you can start using the up-to-date OS immediately.

“Advances are Made by Answering Questions. Discoveries are Made by Questioning Answers.” —Bernard Haisch

Have fun!

If you found value in this guide and want to elevate your efficiency in scientific reading even further, I invite you to explore the next guide I prepared for you.

Here, I will demonstrate how to integrate your reference manager with Notion, to optimize your workflow:

My Workflow for Reading & Writing Manuscripts

I stopped using Acrobat Reader and Microsoft Word, and never looked back!
This is how I use Notion and Readwise Reader.

You can access the text version of this guide by clicking here.

OMFS World

🥼For the OMFS resident - Staying up-to-date during residency feels like an impossible mission. It almost always gets pushed to the bottom of your priority list, and right before the board exams, you try to stuff it all at once. Guess what? If you do that, you will have zero retention. You won't remember any of it. My advice: use my system to keep whatever you already read organized. It only takes a couple of clicks. This way, you will have a wonderful list to work with. It will serve you well while preparing for your board exams and as a board-certified OMFS later on.

🩺For the non-MD medical professional - Anorexia nervosa is an eating disorder most common among adolescent females. It can have serious implications on physical and mental health. The DSM 5 criteria for anorexia nervosa are (1) Restriction of energy intake relative to requirements, leading to significantly low body weight. (2) Intense fear of gaining weight or becoming fat, or persistent behavior that interferes with weight gain, despite significantly low weight. (3) Disturbance in how one’s body weight or shape is experienced. Treatment includes psychotherapy and nutritional rehabilitation. In severe cases, olanzapine may be prescribed.

Epilogue

That’s it for this issue.

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Have a great weekend!

Shay

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