Education

This resident works 100+ hours per week, but is still a poorly trained surgeon

Education
December 11, 2016

I am forced to write anonymously because of gross neglect by my residency program regarding standard ACGME duty-hour rules. If my name were published, it would identify my program.

As a PGY-2, I worked 100+ hours per week on average last year while taking primary call for my urology department. (Admittedly, the PGY-2 is the historic “worst year” for any urology resident.) On a quarterly basis (depending on manpower), we take …

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The moment my passion for clinical care was reaffirmed

Education
November 18, 2016

 

“Medicine Purple is now rounding at Room 202.” The announcement rang throughout the hallways on the lower pavilion. It was an announcement I had heard many times before, but this time it was quite different. As I glanced in the upper right-hand corner of the electronic medical record of my first patient, the following glared back at me in all capital letters: “ATTENDING: COOPER, JOSEPH DAVID.” I had imagined the …

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Why I’m a doctor: Life-changing stories from med students

Education
November 18, 2016

I am a professor of family medicine at the University of Minnesota Medical School. During their third and fourth years, students must complete a four-week clerkship in family medicine. The clerkship includes a “significant-event reflection” project, in which students discuss patient encounters that they’ve found especially meaningful.

Over nearly a decade as a facilitator for these groups, I have heard many powerful and emotional stories. I’ve often felt deeply moved–and admiring …

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Dear future doctor: Remember what it feels like to be a patient

Education
November 10, 2016

Dear future doctor,

Please remember. Remember what it feels like to be a patient.

Remember the pain, remember the anguish of the unknown, remember the detours of being referred from one physician to the next, and how you hoped that this doctor would  finally be able to diagnose you and empathize with your suffering. Remember the agony of not knowing what caused the mysterious, writhing pain; however, at the same time being …

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3 reasons MDs should get MBAs

Education
November 9, 2016

After finishing three years in medical school, I recently moved over to Stanford’s Graduate School of Business. I decided to pursue an MBA in addition to my MD and will graduate two years from now with both degrees.

I’m not alone. There are 11 MD/MBA candidates in my business school class, including nine from Stanford. Our cohort is part of a small but growing trend towards doctors obtaining business training. The …

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My future as a physician looks mediocre at best

Education
November 5, 2016

I am currently a fourth-year medical student, and I will not accept mediocrity in my life any longer (and neither should you).

When you were growing up did you ever wish for happiness? Did you ask for a good life? Did you want to feel fulfilled and self-actualized? Yeah me too. We are meant to reach for the stars, we are meant to go for our dreams, and we are meant …

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Top 5 reasons why medical students need to volunteer

Education
November 1, 2016

As the process of applying to medical school and residency becomes hyper-competitive, we medical students often feel forced to pursue our passions only in ways that are “high yield.” It may seem counterintuitive, but the further we go in our medical training, the more inertia we seem to have about giving our time and energy to the everyday people in need. We’re so pressed for time from our participation in …

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Is your partner a doctor? Be prepared for these destructive comments.

Education
October 29, 2016

If your partner is a doctor or medical student, prepare yourself for dozens — possibly hundreds — of conversations about their career. If you’re lucky, these conversations are pleasant moments in which you get to show pride about your partner’s accomplishments, discuss the challenges openly, or talk about something you have learned as an outsider looking into the medical establishment.

Unfortunately, many of us experience a far more frustrating reality when …

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Stop the competition in medical school

Education
October 21, 2016

Medical school attracts very similar kind of people. Most of us are high-achieving, intelligent people with the common goal of helping others. It is beautiful to think of all of the potential patients we could serve working together. Applying to medical school and medical education often suppresses that potential.

Somewhere in between all of the courses one must take to enter medical school and the dreadful MCAT, it becomes a number …

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The sacrifices medical students have to make

Education
October 14, 2016

As a therapist, I have worked with medical students struggling with depression and anxiety, sometimes addiction but mostly desperate to save what is left of their failing relationships. They are torn by guilt and conflicting concerns that make them feel out of control. Medical school demands more than they can give, and yet they give, and give, and give until finally they are depleted. Ironically, this is when they need …

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Dos and don’ts for your residency interview

Education
October 6, 2016

It’s that time again — time to dust off your nicest suit and prepare for either residency or fellowship interviews. Being knee-deep in interview season for infectious diseases fellowships, my interview days bear some resemblance to my residency interviews, yet also are quite different. I have a unique opportunity this year to be a part of the recruitment and decision process for our internal medicine residency program, in addition to being a fellowship applicant.

I was visiting …

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Physician parents, physician children. Why?

Education
September 25, 2016

Upon starting medical school, I remember feeling amazed to learn just how many of my classmates had physician parents. I felt like I was in the minority, not having any family members of my own who were doctors. This made me realize: Physician parents tend to breed physician children. But why? I soon discovered that the answer may lie in the genetics of personality.

The academic study of personality has grown extensively over …

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A medical student’s struggle with continuity of care

Education
September 16, 2016

“I can’t find the fetal heart tones.” The nurse states with a tone of underlying panic as she exits the patient room.

It’s around 7 a.m., and those of us working the night shift are getting ready for morning sign out before we can head home and get some much-needed sleep after a crazy 14 hours shift.

“Tessa, go scan her” the resident nods towards the ultrasound machine, and I cheerfully follow …

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You can’t prepare for a rotation in the pediatric ER

Education
September 12, 2016

Walking into Riley Pediatrics Hospital in Indianapolis, Indiana, and having just completed two prior rotations in emergency medicine at two different level 1 trauma centers, I thought I would be able to easily fit in with pediatric population here. I thought I would be able to slide fluidly from patient to patient, oral reports to consults, while staying connected with the rest of the team. I thought I would be …

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What kind of doctor do you want to be? Think about it.

Education
August 31, 2016

“A doctor’s mission should not be just to prevent death, but to improve the quality of life. You treat a disease, you win-you lose. You treat a person, I guarantee you’ll win, no matter what the outcome.”
– Patch Adams (1998)

It’s that time of year where everyone begins residency applications, and you commonly hear conversations along the lines of, “What are you going into?”, or, “what type of doctor are you …

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You failed your surgical boards. What’s next?

Education
August 26, 2016

“I graduated this July and took the QE (written general surgery boards) on July 19th. I got my results today, and I failed. Not only did I fail but my score placed me in the 5th percentile. Needless to say, I’m disappointed. You hear stories about CE (oral exam) failure but never about QE failure. I never blew the ABSITE out of the water (50, 29, 20, 34, …

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Pass-fail is here to stay in medical schools. And that’s a good thing.

Education
August 3, 2016

Starting this fall, second-year students will no longer have the stress of grades at our medical school, Washington University in St. Louis (WashU). In extending the pass-fail system from the first year to the second preclinical year, WashU joins the other 18 of the top 20 research medical schools on U.S. News and World Report that grade the entire preclinical curriculum on a pass-fail basis. (The sole holdout is Penn, …

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You don’t have to love your specialty. Here’s why.

Education
August 2, 2016

It’s that time of year where upcoming fourth-year students are frantically preparing applications for their chosen specialties.   Statements like “I LOVE psoriasis,” and “’I’m fascinated by the colon,” are heard from eager, smiling, seemingly-passionate faces when asking preceptors for a “strong letter of recommendation.’”

But what about you? You know, the one whose specialty decision-making process feels more like being tossed into an M.C. Escher lithograph than the instant, undeniable attraction …

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10 pieces of advice for new physicians

Education
August 1, 2016

I am blessed to love being a doctor.  As the child of two physicians, and the fifth generation of physicians in my family, I had no choice but to go to medical school.  But from the first day of medical school, I loved it.  What a privilege, to know how the human body works! And I didn’t think medical school was particularly fun: I thought it was hard. The first …

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A medical student’s first trauma

Education
August 1, 2016

“Code fifty-two, emergency room.  Code fifty-two, emergency room,” blared over the loud speaker in the hospital.  Simultaneously a chorus of beepers went off, like crickets on a sticky summer day.

I glanced down at my pager that echoed the same message “CODE 52, EMERGENCY ROOM.”  The same message flashed across the screen three more times as I ran quickly down the main hallway.  Code 52 meant trauma.  I was about to …

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