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…
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.
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,…
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 …
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.…
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 …
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…
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 …
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…
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, …
One big life event for me was having my son Matthew during medical school. It has been a fulfilling and interesting journey. I met my husband Andrew during college, and we were lucky to matriculate together at the University of…
One big life event for me was having my son Matthew during medical school. It has been a fulfilling and interesting journey.
I met my husband Andrew during college, and we were lucky to matriculate together at the University of Minnesota Medical School. I decided to do a dermatology research year between the third and fourth years of medical school, and Andrew did a neurology research year at the same time. …
Growing up, I was discouraged from becoming a doctor; I was too emotional. My mother, a geriatrician, worried about my attachment to patients and the volatility of inpatient medicine. To some degree, I understood her concerns; I’m tearful during goodbyes…
Growing up, I was discouraged from becoming a doctor; I was too emotional. My mother, a geriatrician, worried about my attachment to patients and the volatility of inpatient medicine. To some degree, I understood her concerns; I’m tearful during goodbyes and inconsolable at funerals. Yet my interest in medicine persisted, and I began medical school. In my third-year, I experienced the innumerable emotions associated with witnessing patients’ deaths. I was …
My interest in understanding burnout among medical trainees started during my second year of medical school. With Step 1 nearing, I noticed a dynamic shift in my classmates. The growing tension, petty arguments, and constant worry surrounding our futures took…
My interest in understanding burnout among medical trainees started during my second year of medical school. With Step 1 nearing, I noticed a dynamic shift in my classmates. The growing tension, petty arguments, and constant worry surrounding our futures took over. This led to a research project assessing burnout risk factors that stood out like a red flag on my application for residency. I found most of my interviewers were …
Five days into my emergency medicine clerkship, I had experienced a lot of firsts: My first participation in a code, my first CPR compressions, and my first patient death. This was specifically a code blue for a patient with pulseless…
Five days into my emergency medicine clerkship, I had experienced a lot of firsts: My first participation in a code, my first CPR compressions, and my first patient death. This was specifically a code blue for a patient with pulseless cardiac arrest.
An elderly woman was brought in by her family after not feeling well for several days and quickly became unresponsive. As the room flooded with staff, my upper-level resident …
1. Stop comparing yourself to others. You got into medical school, that is an extraordinary achievement. Whatever you have done so far has worked, you already have proven your intelligence and study habits. You need to trust that you are…
1. Stop comparing yourself to others. You got into medical school, that is an extraordinary achievement. Whatever you have done so far has worked, you already have proven your intelligence and study habits. You need to trust that you are capable of succeeding in medical school. Every student has different study habits, and different things work for everyone. Just because your classmate is pulling an all-nighter before an exam doesn’t …
Although I'm still relatively early in my journey through medicine, it is still notable when a more mundane task becomes a moment I cannot forget. After seeing dozens of colonoscopies for a couple of weeks, I remember one particular patient,…
Although I’m still relatively early in my journey through medicine, it is still notable when a more mundane task becomes a moment I cannot forget. After seeing dozens of colonoscopies for a couple of weeks, I remember one particular patient, who after completing his procedure very joyfully told me while eating crackers and drinking juice that this was the moment he had been looking forward to the most.
Trust me: The time you spend thinking about your personal statement before you start writing will make the actual writing process much, much easier. Before you even start writing a word, spend some time reading personal statement examples. Read good…
Trust me: The time you spend thinking about your personal statement before you start writing will make the actual writing process much, much easier.
Before you even start writing a word, spend some time reading personal statement examples. Read good ones, read bad ones, read strange ones. The reason for this is to give you an intrinsic idea of what you personally liked and didn’t like. Moreover, you will begin to …
On an early August morning in 2010, my alarm clock went off. The day had finally arrived. Today was my first day as a medical student at the university I had always wanted to attend. High school had ended just…
On an early August morning in 2010, my alarm clock went off. The day had finally arrived. Today was my first day as a medical student at the university I had always wanted to attend. High school had ended just a couple of months before, and today I felt completely different. After years in the same school with the same friends, today I was going to be all by myself. …
Mentorship is a common topic in medicine. We, as a profession, spend significant time discussing, attending workshops about, and researching the role of mentorship. Mentorship is key to personal development, career choice, and improved academic productivity. Yet, it wasn’t until…
Mentorship is a common topic in medicine. We, as a profession, spend significant time discussing, attending workshops about, and researching the role of mentorship. Mentorship is key to personal development, career choice, and improved academic productivity.
Yet, it wasn’t until recently that my understanding of mentorship was challenged. I have always viewed mentorship as someone more senior than myself helping me to achieve my goals. I have always been the mentee in such …
To reach my current position as a general cardiologist, I have taken nine board exams. I have also been teaching medical students for over ten years with several colleagues who write questions for the USMLE Step 1 exam. Through this…
To reach my current position as a general cardiologist, I have taken nine board exams. I have also been teaching medical students for over ten years with several colleagues who write questions for the USMLE Step 1 exam. Through this experience, I have observed a number of themes about what works and does not work for board preparation. I share these with you now in the hopes they may help …
When I was five years old, I wanted to be Aurora from Sleeping Beauty. I admired her because I, too, had long, blonde hair and loved to play in the woods. During the movie, I sang with the music. “I…
When I was five years old, I wanted to be Aurora from Sleeping Beauty. I admired her because I, too, had long, blonde hair and loved to play in the woods. During the movie, I sang with the music. “I know you. I walked with you once upon a dream. I know you. That look in your eyes is so familiar a gleam … Once upon a dream.”
In medical school, I’m having a hard time choosing among extracurricular activities. Some of the difficulty comes from the fact that our mandatory classes are hard enough for me to manage. On top of managing coursework, I feel an enormous…
In medical school, I’m having a hard time choosing among extracurricular activities. Some of the difficulty comes from the fact that our mandatory classes are hard enough for me to manage. On top of managing coursework, I feel an enormous pressure to question what I should and shouldn’t do to best plan for my future. A little voice inside my head always asks, “How will this look on my resume?”
From the moment we begin medical school, we strive to achieve the best we can. That ranges from getting good grades to filling our CV with community work and research experience. With the increasing competitiveness of residency programs, this can…
From the moment we begin medical school, we strive to achieve the best we can. That ranges from getting good grades to filling our CV with community work and research experience. With the increasing competitiveness of residency programs, this can be aggravating. The striving, although needed, keeps sucking our energy, our souls, and sometimes our health without us noticing. It eventually drains us so much that we can no longer …
I’m constantly awed by the fact that I get to be part of one of the best hospitals in the world, especially because as a kid, I grew up without health insurance. These were the days before the Affordable Care…
I’m constantly awed by the fact that I get to be part of one of the best hospitals in the world, especially because as a kid, I grew up without health insurance.
These were the days before the Affordable Care Act; there was no penalty for going without health coverage. As a non-citizen, I was ineligible for Medicaid, and private health care was prohibitively expensive for my family. Fortunately, I was …
To reach my current position as a general cardiologist, I have taken nine board exams. I have also been teaching medical students for over ten years with several colleagues who write questions for the USMLE Step 1 exam. Through this…
To reach my current position as a general cardiologist, I have taken nine board exams. I have also been teaching medical students for over ten years with several colleagues who write questions for the USMLE Step 1 exam. Through this experience, I have observed a number of themes about what works and does not work for board preparation. I share these with you now in the hopes they may help …
