Medical Education

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.

You’re given feedback to “read more.” What do you do next?

Stephanie Wellington, MD

Medical Education

June 16, 2019

Doctors are lifelong learners. Medical students and residents often hear the feedback to read more in their quest to acquire the knowledge to understand health and disease processes and direct patient care.

With so many demands on a resident and early career physician’s time, how do you make the most of the directive to read more? During residency training and throughout your medical career, the patient case mix guides your reading …

A trauma surgeon reflects on the Yale System, 20 years later

Ara Feinstein, MD, MPH

Medical Education

June 14, 2019

The best lens for reflection is to be immersed in the places and people that spawned those memories. Why else would reunions matter? Twenty years after we graduated the Yale School of Medicine, I found myself on campus embracing my classmates again. But it didn’t take long before I felt something creeping up behind the celebratory mood. Amid storytelling and laughter, I couldn’t help reflecting on some of the more …

Is there room for dinosaur professors in today’s medical schools?

Vicki J. Schnadig, MD

Medical Education

June 11, 2019

As a “dinosaur” emerita professor of pathology who still teaches medical students, I have witnessed some of the United States Medical Licensing Examination (USMLE) Step 1-induced climate changes compellingly. No, I am not a reactionary yearning for the past. Medical education has never been perfect. In the not too distant past, students were taught in an environment ruled by arrogant, dogmatic autocrats. Some things have changed for …

The case against the Step 2 Clinical Skills Exam

Madeline Wozniak

Medical Education

June 11, 2019

In the era of the recognition of vast burnout in medicine, particularly amongst medical students, there needs to be a call to address structural problems in medical education. One particularly low-hanging fruit is the Step 2 Clinical Skills Exam (Step 2 CS). The exam has a relatively short history. The National Board of Medical Examiners (NBME) developed the exam for American medical students Read more…

The case against the Step 2 Clinical Skills Exam

To struggling medical students: Meet the physician who conquered the “no’s”

Diana Cejas, MD

Medical Education

June 11, 2019

I know what kinds of things I’m supposed to tell you. I know that your other would be advisors will usually stick to the same basic messages: “Keep reaching for your dreams” or “your hard work is all worth it in the end” or “your education will lay the world at your feet.” These platitudes are all well and good, but honestly, they’re forgettable. And pretty words don’t always translate …

A father and grandfather: A patient’s life lived in full

Ton La, Jr., MD, JD

Medical Education

June 8, 2019

“You were a Secret Service agent, Mr. Smith?”

“I was indeed. For Presidents Ford and Carter.”

“That’s incredible. What were they like?”

“Well, President Carter would get up at 2:00 am and ask us if we’d like to go on a walk. Since most of the staff worked nights, I walked with him. We would walk for hours and talk shop. Carter is the most interesting man I’ve ever met and had the …

Why you shouldn’t place too much importance in college and medical school rankings

Kenneth Lin, MD

Medical Education

June 4, 2019

If you read my curriculum vitae, you might assume that I must have a high opinion of the U.S. News & World Report higher education rankings. I earned my bachelor’s degree from Harvard University, #2 behind Princeton in the “Best National Universities” category. My Master of Public Health degree is from Johns Hopkins, the #1 public health school. And my medical degree is from NYU, tied with Cornell and the Mayo Clinic as …

Promote a culture of medical school peer education

Albert Jang, MD

Medical Education

June 3, 2019

I am a few days away from graduating medical school. Throughout these four years, I have given back to my medical school by passing on the knowledge and wisdom I have accumulated. I share my reflection on the importance of having medical school mentorship and teaching not just from interns, residents, fellows, and attending physicians, but from medical students themselves.

As first-year medical students, (almost) all of us are overwhelmed by …

It’s time to rethink what it means to be a DO

Seger Morris, DO, MBA

Medical Education

May 30, 2019

The future of our profession lies in our ability to come together with a unified voice. We must also recognize that the practice of osteopathic medicine, and the training of osteopathic physicians, has evolved significantly since A.T. Still, MD, DO, created osteopathy.

The AOA recognized this when its Board of Trustees announced that the AOA will start providing two pathways for board certification. DOs will be able to …

3 ways to change your mindset in continuing medical education

Stephanie Wellington, MD

Medical Education

May 30, 2019

The seeds of emotional turmoil inherent in medical education are planted early in the pursuit of becoming a doctor. It is the unspoken fear that medical students and residents experience each day on attending rounds. It is the worry of missing a vital piece of information from the history and physical exam of a patient. It’s the concern that despite reading and preparing for the cases, emerging physicians may find …

A student finds his passion for medicine

Ton La, Jr., MD, JD

Medical Education

May 29, 2019

3:30 a.m. – Wake up.

4:00 a.m. – Leave apartment.

4:15 a.m. – Arrive at hospital.

4:20 a.m. – Print out the patient list.

4:20 – 5:25 a.m. – Split the list of 50 patients with your partner, go to a computer and write down for every patient their 24-hr vital signs, any reported fevers and what was done, what post-op day it is, what day of antibiotics and indications, discharge criteria, etc.

5:29 a.m. …

Recognizing the secret identity of physicians

Lindsay Mazotti, MD

Medical Education

May 24, 2019

It was recently National Teacher Appreciation Week, and many were busy recognizing their superhero teachers. Schools dedicate the week to their teachers, parents bustle about with flowers, handmade cards, and gift baskets. For me, though last week was an interesting reflection on how I define a teacher. During Teacher Appreciation Week I recalled my fourth-grade teacher, Ms. Frazier, who had me memorize Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “I Have a Dream …

How a disability changed this medical student

Emily Hayward

Medical Education

May 23, 2019

As a college freshman in 2012, my life seemed perfect. I was attending Rhodes College in Memphis, TN, with the dream of becoming a pediatric oncologist. To that end, I was serving as a volunteer, researcher, and clinical intern at the world-renowned St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. I was thriving in my classes and building incredible relationships with my peers and professors. I had never been happier.

Everything changed when I …

A medical student’s biggest fear

Ariana Trautmann

Medical Education

May 22, 2019

It was the last week of my EMS elective. I was incredibly lucky to ride with one of the EMS captains who was eager to take me to any call that sounded interesting. We were called to a possible stroke. An 82-year-old woman with sudden-onset unilateral weakness and expressive aphasia. The paramedic and EMT on scene were two I had met before. We actually talked earlier that day about the …

Read more…

A medical student’s biggest fear

A medical student’s first patient presentation

Ton La, Jr., MD, JD

Medical Education

May 18, 2019

In medical school, you’re not taught how to give stellar patient presentations. Yes, you’re shown the traditional order of things: “Give an effective one-liner first, then tell the HPI [history of present illness] but only give pertinent info, etc.” Just exactly how to deliver the punch that impresses your attending is an art. And it’s an art that takes some time to perfect.

My very first time presenting a patient was …

Medicine was consuming this medical student. Was it worth it?

Sarah B. El Iskandarani

Medical Education

May 18, 2019

For as long as I remember, studying medicine has always been the goal I focused on the most. For years, I thought that I knew the path I was taking, and that I calculated the benefits and drawbacks. However, with time, I learned that no matter how much one assesses his decisions, one cannot have a full grasp of it, until he/she “begins” to experience it.

I wasn’t aware how much …

A medical educator’s poignant epiphany

Robert Marion, MD

Medical Education

May 17, 2019

For a long time, I didn’t feel as if I were getting any older. Because I’ve been at my institution since 1975, I’ve always been surrounded by the people who educated me. Though my teachers and mentors have undoubtedly aged, to me, none of them seems much older than they were when I first met them. And since for most of those years our student-teacher relationship has remained unchanged, when …

Read more…

A medical educator’s poignant epiphany

The truth about Caribbean medical schools

Jessica K. Willett, MD

Medical Education

May 15, 2019

I graduated from St. George’s University School of Medicine in Grenada and now work as an emergency medicine physician at a trauma center in Northern California. To some, that may seem like an extreme jump or a rare success story. The stigma of a Caribbean medical school education is built on rumors — and they’ve run their course. Let’s address some.

1. Students only go to Caribbean medical schools if they …

The benefits of compassion always outweigh its risks

Nidhi Desai

Medical Education

May 14, 2019

It was an ordinary afternoon in my outpatient internal medicine rotation. I prepared to enter a room for a congestive heart failure hospital follow-up patient. I mentally prepared myself. I was going to ask for his hospital records (particularly looking for the echocardiogram), make sure he was started on an ACE inhibitor and a beta-blocker, and ensure he had a follow up with a cardiologist in the coming weeks. “This …

Want to create a review course? Here’s how this physician did it.

Mary Preisman, MD

Medical Education

May 11, 2019

When I told my colleagues that I was going to try to create the first psychiatry review course at the University of Toronto, I received the same two responses: “It’s about time somebody did that!” and “What is wrong with you?” — sometimes from the same person!

The first reaction taps into the excellence of our department. With approximately 1,000 faculty with diverse expertise and the largest residency program in Canada, …

Medical Education

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