Medical education

2,303 articles · Since 2007

Articles, page 107

Using failure as motivation for medical residents

January 14, 2011Jan 14, 20113

Dear Dr. Brandt, As a second year medical student, I know that my peers and I all struggle with what we view as "failure" at some point or another. I imagine this problem doesn’t stop (... ever), especially since medicine…

Dear Dr. Brandt,

As a second year medical student, I know that my peers and I all struggle with what we view as “failure” at some point or another. I imagine this problem doesn’t stop (… ever), especially since medicine seems to attract people who hold themselves to extremely high, if not impossible, standards. If you’re looking for topics, I wonder if you might have some insight to offer on how

…

How surgery is a team sport, and in awe of neurosurgery

Suchita Shah

January 12, 2011Jan 12, 20116

I recently finished my 10 weeks in Internal Medicine and have moved on to 1 week each of Ophthalmology, Neurosurgery, Anesthesiology, and Otolaryngology. This week: brain surgery. (Tomorrow, the world.) In 3rd grade, I wrote “I want to be a…

In 3rd grade, I wrote “I want to be a brain surgen [sic].” Ever since, it’s been a goal of mine to be a neurosurgeon. Well, until college … when other interests and the anticipated reality of a 7+ year residency …

Will medical school as we know it exist in a decade?

Scrub, MD

December 31, 2010Dec 31, 20105

A century ago in the U.S., the American Medical Association (AMA) created the Council of Medical Education (CME) to evaluate the standard of medical education. In 1908, the committee recruited the Carnegie Foundation to survey the 155 medical schools operating…

A century ago in the U.S., the American Medical Association (AMA) created the Council of Medical Education (CME) to evaluate the standard of medical education.

In 1908, the committee recruited the Carnegie Foundation to survey the 155 medical schools operating at the time in order to see whether they met the standard of medical education set by the CME. The Carnegie Foundation in turn asked Abraham Flexner, a professional educator, to …

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Successful surgery rotation tips

MomTFH, DO

December 24, 2010Dec 24, 20102

I recently finished my two months of surgery rotations. I am happy to say that I really enjoyed my surgery rotations. I thought I was going to be intimidated by the OR, but I found it fascinating. I am relieved,…

I recently finished my two months of surgery rotations.

I am happy to say that I really enjoyed my surgery rotations. I thought I was going to be intimidated by the OR, but I found it fascinating. I am relieved, since surgery is a big part of OB/GYN.

Here are a few things I learned on my surgery rotation:

Scrub in before the surgeon but after the OR nurse.
Before you scrub in, introduce

…

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Successful surgery rotation tips

Medical school and medical training in Ireland

Vineet Arora, MD

December 17, 2010Dec 17, 201010

I recently spent a week in Ireland, taking in the sights and spirits. I was actually there for work too – visiting the University College of Dublin and the Mater Miserecordia Hospital – or the original Mercy Hospital as they…

I recently spent a week in Ireland, taking in the sights and spirits.

I was actually there for work too – visiting the University College of Dublin and the Mater Miserecordia Hospital – or the original Mercy Hospital as they refer to it. As the future of primary care, residency work hours, and the healthcare insurance system continue to cause angst in the US, we often find ourselves referencing what our European …

How to intubate: Teaching a medical student during anesthesia residency

Felicity Billings, MD

December 16, 2010Dec 16, 20103

The first time I let a medical student try to intubate was in August. Now in my final year of anesthesia residency, I had volunteered to mentor a third-year medical student for a week. A few weeks in advance I got an email with the form she had filled out. Anesthesia experience: none. Excited to learn: yes.

I met her on Monday morning after she navigated through the preoperative holding area …

Commercially funded CME programs and whether bias can be removed

Thomas Sullivan

December 7, 2010Dec 7, 201011

The growing criticism of industry funded continuing medical education (CME) over the past several years has had a number of significant effects on the CME community. As the Accreditation Council of Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) annual report showed, from 2007 to the present, commercial support of CME dropped 29.3%, and the number of directly sponsored CME activities decreased over 7% between 2008 and 2009.

CME funding is extremely important …

A neurosurgical resident’s typical day

Colin Son, MD

December 1, 2010Dec 1, 201010

I’ve made some fairly outrageous claims about the workload of a neurosurgical resident recently. Seems like a reasonable time to lay out exactly what a day on call can be like for me and my fellow residents. To be fair…

To be fair an average experience may be hard to articulate. Different rotations and different days yield different … adventures. Right now I’m on a service that could hardly be called grueling, but I …

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A neurosurgical resident’s typical day

Addressing the physician shortage in Texas

Tayson DeLengocky, DO

November 17, 2010Nov 17, 201028

by Tayson DeLengocky, DO The physician shortage in Texas has commanded an unusual amount of public interest in recent weeks. The Houston Chronicle (Oct. 17), Star Telegram (Oct. 19) and Fort Worth Business Press (Oct. 27) all devoted space to…

by Tayson DeLengocky, DO

The physician shortage in Texas has commanded an unusual amount of public interest in recent weeks.

The Houston Chronicle (Oct. 17), Star Telegram (Oct. 19) and Fort Worth Business Press (Oct. 27) all devoted space to the growing shortage of physicians in Texas and the steps necessary to correct the problem. The three articles recognized that the availability of residency slots is the determining factor in addressing the …

Why medical students are burning out and lacking altruism

Anonymous

November 16, 2010Nov 16, 20105

Recently, AAFP News Now released an article titled, Unprofessional Conduct Among U.S. Medical Students Linked to Burnout. It focused on an article recently released in JAMA entitled, Relationship Between Burnout and Professional Conduct and Attitudes Among US Medical Students. I…

Recently, AAFP News Now released an article titled, Unprofessional Conduct Among U.S. Medical Students Linked to Burnout.

It focused on an article recently released in JAMA entitled, Relationship Between Burnout and Professional Conduct and Attitudes Among US Medical Students.

I had the opportunity to be interviewed for this article and was featured on an inset within the article that shared a minority of my interview. As …

Physicians the government wants to see

Edwin Leap, MD

November 15, 2010Nov 15, 201030

I was talking with a pre-med student recently. He had completed his very first medical school interview and was, understandably, excited. But he told me the interviewer had asked him what he thought would be the outcome of the current…

I laughed to myself. After 17 years in practice, even I don’t know the outcome, though I have my suspicions. It seemed a loaded, almost unfair question. After …

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Physicians the government wants to see

Medical students taking a mandatory rotation in geriatrics

Eric Widera, MD

November 14, 2010Nov 14, 20104

What happens when you randomly assign medical students to either a mandatory two week rotation in specialized geriatric training or to a traditional non-geriatric clerkship that sees a lot of old people? Will there be any difference in the knowledge…

Will there be any difference in the knowledge of geriatric conditions, the attitudes toward older adults, or geriatric clinical skills between the two groups? Or does mere exposure to an aging patient population give students the training they need to …

Making the decision to go to medical school

PalMD

November 13, 2010Nov 13, 20105

First, this piece is not a how-to guide for getting into medical school. But I use this ploy for good, and not for evil. Through conversations with a number of non-medical colleagues, I’ve been forced to think a bit more…

First, this piece is not a how-to guide for getting into medical school.

But I use this ploy for good, and not for evil. Through conversations with a number of non-medical colleagues, I’ve been forced to think a bit more about premedical and medical education. A letter from a reader (which is presented in a highly altered version below) made me decide to more thoroughly and …

Autonomy versus supervision for residents is a fine line

Nicholas Fogelson, MD

November 12, 2010Nov 12, 20107

When one is a medical student, pretty much everything one does is directly supervised. Though a student is allowed to assess patients and make recommendations, rarely is a student given the autonomy to make decisions that will affect patients. They…

Once a student becomes a resident, things start to change. As residents are physicians, they have the power to write …

Using servant leadership to teach medical students

Robert Centor, MD

November 11, 2010Nov 11, 20105

I spend much time talking with medical students. It is part of my job, but more than that I like medical students. What should be the goal of medical schools? I believe we have an obligation to help our students…

I spend much time talking with medical students. It is part of my job, but more than that I like medical students.

What should be the goal of medical schools? I believe we have an obligation to help our students grow into great physicians. What philosophical principles should we use?

Perhaps the answer to success is Servant Leadership. As I learn more about this concept, I hope that have become a servant …

How medical students can improve our health system

Aaron J. Stupple, MD

November 11, 2010Nov 11, 20102

Many fellow medical students are eager to improve "the system." However, an overeager attitude offers both promise and peril -- promise that budding physicians are inspired to improve the inner workings of their chosen field, peril in that our naiveté…

Many fellow medical students are eager to improve “the system.”

However, an overeager attitude offers both promise and peril — promise that budding physicians are inspired to improve the inner workings of their chosen field, peril in that our naiveté may simply clutter the very complexities we seek to improve.

How do we strike a balance between getting involved and getting in the way?

I found guidance in law professors Raustiala’s and Sprigman’s …

Empathy cannot be simply turned on and off

MomTFH, DO

October 31, 2010Oct 31, 20103

In our clinical years, our medical school has instituted a program in which we do learning modules along with our in hospital experience and didactics. I was happy to see a module on empathy for my second month of surgery.…

In our clinical years, our medical school has instituted a program in which we do learning modules along with our in hospital experience and didactics.

I was happy to see a module on empathy for my second month of surgery. The last question to be answered in this module was: “Although the studies on empathy are very consistent other authors have indicated that medical students are really not losing cognitive empathy, …

Social medicine and global health should be pre-med requirement

Eric Lu

October 28, 2010Oct 28, 20103

We’ve started taking a course called the “Introduction to Social Medicine and Global Health” headed up by Paul Farmer and David Jones. This is a course that exposes us to a variety of issues related to the social determinants of illness and health with a different lecturer each week. Recently, we had Nicholas Christakis, this week we have Allan Brandt, and for the next few weeks we’ll have Michael Porter, …

Medical resident superstition and black clouds

Elizabeth Breuer, MD

October 22, 2010Oct 22, 20103

This month of my intern year, I am covering night float for the private hospital. Compared to the massive county hospital teeming with laboring patients, churning at all hours of the day and night, the private practice pace is meant…

This week however, has been nothing less than hell. One night, I was …

The White Coat Ceremony and its effect on medical students

Pamela Savitz & Timothy Dempsey, MD, MPH

October 20, 2010Oct 20, 20103

Last month, the National Football League inducted seven of its all-time great players into its Hall of Fame in a ceremony filled with nostalgia and memories of legendary careers long-finished. While this was going on, there was another type of…

Last month, the National Football League inducted seven of its all-time great players into its Hall of Fame in a ceremony filled with nostalgia and memories of legendary careers long-finished.

While this was going on, there was another type of induction ceremony taking place around the country. Yet, these celebrations lacked recollections of past achievements by retired legends finally receiving their due. There weren’t even …

Medical education

Articles, page 107

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