Students, residents, and educators writing on KevinMD about how physicians are made: medical school, the match, residency, duty hours, supervision, assessment, mistreatment, and the path from student to practicing physician. Many contributors write while still in training, and many write anonymously. For a maintained record of what students and physicians have said about medical school since 2004, see Medical school: what students and physicians say, in their own words. For what residents and attendings have said about residency itself, see Residency: what residents and attendings say, in their own words.
The interview season has again arrived. The circle of life repeats, the wheel of time rolls on as the new residents who were interviewees last year meet the next group of interviewees, and our senior residents again themselves become interviewees in their quest for jobs and fellowships. However, something is different this time. The presence of a life-changing global pandemic second only in impact to the zombie apocalypse yet to …
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This will be an interview season for the ages
I have found that sleep and the medical profession have an uneasy relationship.
Physicians, of course, recommend that patients get at least seven hours of sleep each night. But despite dispensing that advice to others, I don’t think I personally know a single doctor who actually sleeps that much, given the demands of providing care, documentation, making time for their loved ones and ruminating on illnesses and treatments for patients who …
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Sleep and the medical profession have an uneasy relationship
The faculty and staff welcome us warmly. They know each of our names as we walk through the door, and further conversation reveals that they have also studied the short biographical sketches we sent in last month. We are reassured – we belong here. I scan the atrium for students I might have seen at my interview. This is the first time I have been back here since that day, …
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The first day of medical training during a pandemic
So long as you are trying to fit in, you will never feel like you belong.
When the travesty of a “research” publication titled, “Prevalence of Unprofessional Social Media Content Among Young Vascular Surgeons” seemingly metastasized overnight into what will forever be immortalized as the sordid saga that unwittingly catapulted the hashtag #medbikini all across the internet ether, in every way possible this “study” exposed the unsavory truth about the still …
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Ethical humanism: life after #medbikini and an approach to reimagining professionalism
A man outfitted in a lovely blue suit falls through the air, losing his shoe and hurriedly scribbling notes, seemingly ignorant to the gravitational chaos around him. While this picture is featured on the cover of the novel Less by Andrew Sean Greer, I wonder how similar my experience will be starting on Monday.
After four months of delay, it is finally my turn to enter the hospital and begin my …
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When it becomes time to embrace fear and loss and let the chaos lead to growth
Anyone who has ever played sports knows the feeling of being “benched.” I’ll recall my own experience participating in middle school football. I worked exceptionally hard during practice to prove myself to the coaches. A burning, incessant desire stirred within me to be chosen as a linebacker. When game day arrived, our coaches called out our lineup. I was not included, only to be relegated to the special teams instead. …
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Medical students are benched during the pandemic
My medical school’s secondary application, like that of many other medical schools, asked me to describe a personal or professional challenge or conflict and to explain how I worked to resolve it. However, unlike other medical schools, my school specified that they did not want to hear about the MCAT or another academic challenge.
For this question, I wrote about a challenge that I have been facing for most of my …
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I challenge you to discuss death
As a medical student, I was finally starting my clinical rotations, a time of great anticipation and celebration among medical students and their families. After two years of book learning, I was going to be called “doctor” and wear my short white doctor’s coat. I was thrilled!
As we gathered in the lecture hall, and over the hubbub of my equally excited classmates, I notice the huge screen down in front. …
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A medical student walks out of a class. The silence that follows is what hurts most.
“We will cease all remaining clerkships. Please thank your preceptors, collect your things, return home, and practice social distancing.”
The email’s words were disappointing, but not surprising. Other medical schools had already pulled their students from hospitals. My school had opted to keep us in as long as possible so we could have the unique learning experience of providing health care during a pandemic. But now, safety and prudence exceeded our …
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A medical student’s unique education in a pandemic
I hopped out of the elevator and looked at my watch. I was 20 minutes early. My heart was pounding in my ears, and my brain felt suddenly disconnected. I was standing outside of the office of a prestigious surgeon in a prestigious hospital, waiting to be interviewed for a spot as a medical student in a prestigious medical school. I checked my watch again: 19 minutes early. …
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It’s them, not you: the journey of applying to medical school
Ever since I entered the publishing world as a bottom-feeder editorial assistant in 2001, I’ve gotten all sorts of questions about “how to become a writer.” (Spoiler: Pick up a pen.) As my career progressed, I’ve edited lots of physician-authored material. Over the last few years, I’ve become an avid consumer of physician-written books and blogs.
If that experience doesn’t sell you, I have received the distinct honor of engaging my …
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Writing tips for physicians from a health care editor
The field of medicine is always changing. In fact, half of what students learn in medical school will either be wrong or outdated five years after they graduate. As future physicians, medical students must learn to adapt to these changes. In fact, the medical school curriculum itself has evolved greatly over the years. In addition to basic science, pharmacology, and clinical medicine, curriculums now include content …
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Why medical students should be taught the business side of medicine
As of October 2019, the small country of Lebanon began its descent into its worst economic collapse in modern history. Exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, the Lebanese currency has lost nearly 85 percent of its value on the black market, and the inflation rate within the country has surpassed even that of Syria, with the worst still to come. As a result, unemployment rates have been climbing, countless businesses, both …
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Physicians in a failing state set an example
There is a picture of me kneeling in front of the Azure Window, once off the coast of Malta, eating a chocolate ice-cream cone. I am 12 years old, having just finished the sixth grade, wearing high-top “Bathroom Wall” Converse and not-at-all-grungy cargo pants in my attempt to emulate the 2008 aesthetic of Avril Lavigne. On top, I’m wearing a plaid button-down and a straw cowboy hat, which my mom …
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The middle school of medicine: a reflection on the first year of medical school
Transitioning from the classroom to the wards is an uncertain and anxiety-provoking time for many medical students. Schedules are constantly changing, as are expectations and learning objectives. Mentorship and advice from upperclassmen, residents, and attendings was an essential tool in my MS3 toolbox. I would go so far as to say that these pieces of insight are the toolbox. The 2020-2021 academic year will provide its own degree of obstacles …
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Pearls and pitfalls for medical students entering their clinical years
Like many others, I have felt immense frustration in the past couple of weeks. The news surrounding the Black Lives Matter movement, compounded by many other incidents of injustice against minorities, has made me feel constant rage at the society we live in.
I’ve tried to channel my anger into as much activism as I can think of, and I’m looking for more opportunities every day. Beyond donating, protesting, …
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Why cultural competency courses should be requisites for medical school
Black bodies are dying, and medical schools are partially to blame. Never did I imagine that I would come to the realization that as a medical student; I was being trained and conditioned to identify and treat conditions predominately in white people. It is time for medical institutions to address how medical school curriculums, which use whiteness as a scale to define normal, contributes to increased rates of mortality and …
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The role of medical education in perpetuating health care disparities
In early 2001, my sister was tired, paler than usual. We didn’t think much of it. Then, months passed, and crimson pinpoints appeared on her skin. My brother and I took turns grasping her arm and snickering as our handprints would appear as red dots just a few minutes later. Symptoms amassed silently, but on my ninth birthday in May, something big happened.
I remember hearing words like “low blood count” spoken …
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What happens when you are not the hero: a story of forgiveness
