Why a prison psychiatry rotation should be mandatory for all medical students

Education
June 24, 2020

Most incarcerated individuals — over 95 percent of them — will return to their communities. Medical students have a unique opportunity, as a part of their training, to learn about the medical needs of this group and help provide care for a vulnerable population that has historically been abused. Moreover, prison health services have been shown to reduce the stigma of those …

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Why a prison psychiatry rotation should be mandatory for all medical students

IMGs are abandoned during COVID

Education
June 23, 2020

The Match is a stressful time during any physician’s life. Applicants study for, arrange for, and lose sleep over their USMLE steps, their letters of recommendation, and their personal statements. The matching process is particularly difficult during a global pandemic.

As COVID-19 spread in March 2020, all USMLE testing was suspended. Applicants were reassured that tests would either be rescheduled, or that an alternative testing format would be proposed. The National …

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IMGs are abandoned during COVID

A young mother’s medical school journey

Education
June 22, 2020

I was 19 years old when I became pregnant. Pregnancy and birth, at such a young age, was both the happiest and the scariest thing to have happened to me.

My dream of becoming a doctor began when I was in middle school, from a seemingly mundane moment that suddenly and unexpectedly changed the course of my life.  It stemmed from a tennis injury, a broken leg, and a visit to …

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A young mother’s medical school journey

Transition recommendations for the reporting of USMLE Step 1 scores as pass/fail

Education
June 15, 2020

On February 12, 2020, the United States Medical Licensing Examination (USMLE) announced that, “the USMLE program will change score reporting for Step 1 from a three-digit numeric score to reporting only a pass/fail outcome” as early as January 1, 2022. This change will have a major impact on medical education. USMLE has not announced a complete plan for the transition to pass/fail score reporting. USMLE’s careful …

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Transition recommendations for the reporting of USMLE Step 1 scores as pass/fail

How medical education fails minority students

Education
June 14, 2020

“You have to work twice as hard to get half as far.”

As a black woman, this sentiment has haunted me for my entire life. Minority individuals are consistently forced to go above and beyond to prove themselves, regardless of the setting. Unfortunately, medical education is no different. Black and Hispanic students, often referred to as underrepresented minority (URM) students, consistently face racial bias, which places them at a disadvantage to …

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How medical education fails minority students

The medical education question that needs to be changed

Education
May 18, 2020

“What do you want to be when you grow up?”

That is a common question you hear in the setting of medical education. I think I heard it for the first time on my first clinical rotation. A little background, I was a non-traditional medical student. I worked as a clinical pharmacist for ten years prior to starting medical school. When the resident asked me that question, I was initially a …

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The medical education question that needs to be changed

To the AAMC: Recommend an interview limit or else this year’s residency match may be a disaster

Education
May 16, 2020

The COVID-19 pandemic has turned medical education upside-down. There has been massive disruption from exclusively virtual pre-clerkship courses to delayed clerkships to canceled graduation proceedings. After weeks of speculation, we’ve learned how the pandemic will disrupt the 2020-2021 residency application cycle. The Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) now recommends that all residency interviews be conducted virtually. While this is a wise recommendation, out of concern for public safety, I …

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To the AAMC: Recommend an interview limit or else this year’s residency match may be a disaster

Deploring racism isn’t enough: Addressing white privilege in medical school

Education
May 10, 2020

If you ask a group of medical students to raise their hands if they are, in fact, racist, I’d venture to guess that not a single hand would shoot up. And I don’t think they would be lying. I am sure that no student believes that he, she, or they are a bigot.

Many of us have committed our lives to care for patients regardless of race, gender, or socioeconomic status. …

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Deploring racism isn’t enough: Addressing white privilege in medical school

After the pandemic, would I choose medicine again?

Education
May 1, 2020

Several weeks ago, after hearing that I plan to begin medical school this August, someone asked me if I still would have chosen to become a physician had I known about COVID-19.

When I submitted my AMCAS application one year ago, I never imagined that I would be waiting in quarantine, wondering whether I will have a white coat ceremony. It never crossed my mind that I would be reading articles, …

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After the pandemic, would I choose medicine again?

The power of poetry during a pandemic

Education
April 27, 2020

I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting with their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.

These verses flashed on my computer screen, the glare lighting my face as I sat in my bedroom. I paused my usual work and …

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The power of poetry during a pandemic

An open letter to graduating medical students

Education
April 21, 2020

I see you.

Studying. Reading the updated guidelines for patients with COVID-19, reviewing differentials, and management algorithms for common chief complaints during this time of restricted direct patient contact. Embracing online boot camps. Completing residency paperwork. Thank you for preparing.

Relaxing. Trying out a new yoga video. Watching Netflix by the hour. Reading a new book. Going for a run or walk. Thank you for re-charging your batteries so you can serve …

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An open letter to graduating medical students

How death is a blessing and a burden

Education
March 21, 2020

Our goal in medical school is to learn how to preserve the quality of life. Yet, in order to better understand human life, we are immediately faced with death by means of anatomy lab.

From week one, we are tasked with removing the skin and fat from a cadaver’s thorax — desensitizing ourselves to death enough so we may cope with dissecting someone’s beloved mother or adored husband. It’s difficult not …

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How death is a blessing and a burden

7 ideas for an alternative Match Day

Education
March 18, 2020

As a cardiologist, a mom of three school-aged kids, a physician’s wife, and associate dean of student affairs, I am acutely aware of how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected our communities. In this time of constant change and concern, it is important to find joy in whatever we can. This week is Match Week. Instead of our senior medical students celebrating their accomplishments together, they are social distancing and foregoing …

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7 ideas for an alternative Match Day

7 reflections on grief and personal loss as told by a medical student

Education
March 17, 2020

Being a medical student during your clinical years imparts a certain feeling of invincibility. For many of us, this is our first-time taking care of patients. Our history-taking and physical exam skills are being honed like superpowers. Our clinical knowledge is growing. We begin to take ownership of patients as our own.

With all but two clinical rotations left in my third year, and at the peak of my own feelings …

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7 reflections on grief and personal loss as told by a medical student

How can you determine a Caribbean medical school’s quality?

Education
March 13, 2020

If you open Google and do a search for “Caribbean medical schools,” it will quickly become clear to you that not everyone is a fan, but just because something doesn’t work for one person doesn’t necessarily mean it hasn’t worked for hundreds. Established, upper-tier Caribbean medical schools are credible alternatives for hardworking students unable to secure seats at U.S. schools. That’s a provable fact. Thousands of students across multiple Caribbean …

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How can you determine a Caribbean medical school’s quality?

Continuing medical education: Why it’s important and how to make it effective

Education
March 9, 2020

With the escalating pressures on hospitals, health care facilities, and practitioners to be cost-effective, it is increasingly difficult to justify spending money on education and training. Education and training are expensive when adding together the costs of curriculum development and educators. While finding the right person for the job is important in getting the job done, most, if not all, management would agree that the “right” person includes appropriate education, …

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Continuing medical education: Why it’s important and how to make it effective

What it’s like to take a MPH gap year

Education
March 2, 2020

It has been nearly seven months since I made the decision to take a year off from medical school to pursue a master’s of public health (MPH) degree in Baltimore and nearly eleven months since I last saw a patient. From attending a Public Citizen workshop on access to pharmaceuticals to competing in my first business case competition to meeting several members of Congress to brushing up on my gym …

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What it’s like to take a MPH gap year

Here’s why you should get a chaplain for your patient

Education
February 26, 2020

It was my first week of internal medicine rotation. A newly-minted third-year, I was rotating on the wards back in the spring, when I met a 90-something-year-old gentleman. He had come in for confusion after a fall.

There were no relatives or friends in the waiting room.

I was assigned to follow him. During his stay, his words were few; it was often difficult to engage him in conversation. Whenever I pre-rounded, …

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Here’s why you should get a chaplain for your patient

USMLE Step 1 pass/fail winners and losers

Education
February 13, 2020

On February 12, 2020, the National Board of Medical Examiners (NBME) announced that the USMLE Step 1 will transition to a pass/fail exam in January 2022 at the earliest. This move comes amidst increasing pressure on the NBME regarding its financial conflicts of interest, as well as the tangible sense among medical school deans that students were neglecting …

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USMLE Step 1 pass/fail winners and losers

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