Medical education

2,303 articles · Since 2007

Articles, page 43

Free medical school isn’t necessary a silver bullet

November 13, 2018Nov 13, 201810

The New York University School of Medicine stunned the nation by announcing tuition for all current and future medical students will be free, irrespective of merit or financial need. Dr. Robert Grossman, dean at NYU, commented: “This decision recognizes a moral imperative that must be addressed, as institutions place an increasing debt burden on young people who aspire to become physicians.” NYU says their scholarship — which begins in the …

Embrace the teamwork involved in becoming a physician

Nathaniel Fleming

November 12, 2018Nov 12, 2018

It’s Sunday, and the clock is approaching 8 p.m. Every computer in our team room is still on, and the sound of typing is filling the small space. A spread of snacks, interspersed between stethoscopes and stacks of faxed records,…

This scene was a familiar one on inpatient medicine, where call days can stretch long into the evening. Although those days were challenging and draining, …

8 tips to land the residency of your dreams

Cory Fawcett, MD & Eric Brown

November 9, 2018Nov 9, 20184

After countless hours of hard work and three demanding years of medical school, it’s now time to face the spotlight! If your interview invites have started rolling in and you are feeling intimidated by the thought, follow these tips to…

1. Be prompt with your responses to interview invites

Be sure to set your inbox to automatically refresh every hour during the interview season so you …

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A medical student as storyteller and story-listener

Yoo Jung Kim, MD

November 8, 2018Nov 8, 2018

“Sondor” is a made-up internet neologism that captures the fleeting but poignant sense of “the realization that each random passerby is living a life as vivid and complex as your own — populated with their own ambitions, friends, routines, worries…

I think about this word often when I see my patients. Everyone is the main character of his or her life, and during the third year of medical …

Here’s what the third year of medical school taught me

Manahil Akmal

November 5, 2018Nov 5, 2018

The dawn of 2018 brought new hopes and new promises for me as I began the third year of my medical school journey. This marked the beginning of a challenging era, one that would test my capabilities to the fullest but also one that was the culmination of countless sacrifices and the fulfillment of years of yearning. After all, this was what I had come to medical school for.

Third year …

What kind of extracurricular activities do medical schools look for?

Yosepha Greenfield

November 5, 2018Nov 5, 2018

Preparing for medical school demands displaying your passion for both medicine and helping others. Like medical schools, other graduate school programs (think: business or law) require strong grades, test scores, leadership experience, and resumes. But medical school requires so much more than that. Good extracurricular activities for medical school are a particularly important part of the application process.

Through your application — personal statement, AMCAS experience list, secondaries, and interviews — you must …

Being a physician was never the objective. The goal was becoming one.

Yoo Jung Kim, MD

November 2, 2018Nov 2, 20184

There is a saying among students that medical education is like “taking a drink out of a fire hydrant.” The simile evokes the torrent of information and the impossibility of taking it all in. The type of people who are…

There is a saying among students that medical education is like “taking a drink out of a fire hydrant.” The simile evokes the torrent of information and the impossibility of taking it all in.

The type of people who are admitted to medical school aren’t used to being wrong; to call them perfectionists wouldn’t be too far from the truth. Many secured a seat in medical school because they had made …

What this student learned from a standardized patient exam

Adam Nessim

November 2, 2018Nov 2, 20182

Many people think medical school is all about memorization and books. But some of the most valuable lessons I learned in my first year as a medical student came from a much different experience. No matter what stage you are…

Many people think medical school is all about memorization and books. But some of the most valuable lessons I learned in my first year as a medical student came from a much different experience.

No matter what stage you are at in your journey, there are always new facts, techniques, and procedures to learn. You are presented with an enormous amount of information during your preclinical years. There is so much …

Why medical students should not let medicine define them

King Pascual

October 31, 2018Oct 31, 20182

Sanjay Gupta. John Locke. Jill Stein. Charles Krauthammer. What do they all have in common? If you guessed that they are all physicians, then you’re right. Less salient, however, is the fact that all of them pursued passions outside of…

Sanjay Gupta. John Locke. Jill Stein. Charles Krauthammer. What do they all have in common?

If you guessed that they are all physicians, then you’re right.

Less salient, however, is the fact that all of them pursued passions outside of medicine. (Dr. Gupta is an Emmy Award-winning medical reporter. John Locke was a physician-philosopher. Stein and Krauthammer both made their mark in politics.) In doing so, they avoided an existential trap that …

What I wish I knew on the residency interview trail

Amanda Xi, MD

October 28, 2018Oct 28, 2018

I still remember the warm, fuzzy feeling of receiving my first few interview invitations. Unlike medical school, I received much more "love" from residency programs. Since I was part of the inaugural class of a new medical school, I interviewed…

I still remember the warm, fuzzy feeling of receiving my first few interview invitations. Unlike medical school, I received much more “love” from residency programs. Since I was part of the inaugural class of a new medical school, I interviewed for a lot of programs: 16 anesthesiology, six transitional years, and three preliminary medicine programs. After my first few interviews, it became apparent that most residency interviews tend to be …

There’s no textbook for when your father is dying

Jeremy Pivor

October 26, 2018Oct 26, 2018

On my first day of medical school, my father, a dentist, told me he'd just been diagnosed with stage four pancreatic cancer. Cancer had crept back into my life — except this time not into my body. At age 12,…

On my first day of medical school, my father, a dentist, told me he’d just been diagnosed with stage four pancreatic cancer. Cancer had crept back into my life — except this time not into my body.

At age 12, I was diagnosed with brain cancer. After an aggressive surgery, I was tumor-free for 10 years. Then, at 23, I received the news of an inoperable recurrence.

While going through radiation and …

How the science of learning salvaged my college career

Elijah Hamm

October 25, 2018Oct 25, 2018

As an aspiring physician on the pre-med track (a microbiology and immunology major), I believe that creating a strong academic foundation, especially in math and science, is essential for future career and academic success. Growing up in Miami’s more improvised area, Liberty City, quality learning materials were scarce. Even when there were resources for active learning, most students were completely unaware of their existence or lacked the training to make …

A vow to never become a robot doctor

Lauren Joseph

October 24, 2018Oct 24, 2018

Before coming to medical school, I made a promise to myself: I will not become a robot doctor. Time and again, I visited what I call robot doctors: those physicians unable to empathize with me and seemingly unable to compute moments when I said something unscripted. For example, I once made an appointment with a doctor to discuss what might have been irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). While describing my symptoms …

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A vow to never become a robot doctor

Explaining what osteopathic medicine is

Liz Hills, DO

October 17, 2018Oct 17, 20184

First of all, many osteopathic medical schools are located in underserved areas — or as underserved as possible while still having enough of a medical community to make training possible. My school, LMU-DCOM is located in the middle of Appalachia, for example. Osteopathic medical schools generally encourage students to specialize in primary care, at least as much as they can, considering that our health care system is not …

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Explaining what osteopathic medicine is

Reflections after finishing the first year of medical school

Batoul Harissa

October 17, 2018Oct 17, 20184

I am both relieved and nervous because they say that the first year is the worst, but now I have the overarching cloud of doom following me around during second year: Step 1. Now that I’m home, I constantly am…

I am both relieved and nervous because they say that the first year is the worst, but now I have the overarching cloud of doom following me around during second year: Step 1.

Now that I’m home, I constantly am wondering how I made it this far — in disbelief that I passed all my courses pretty well. I constantly ask myself if exams were too easy and if I’m just …

How physical should medical training be?

Orly Farber

October 16, 2018Oct 16, 20182

“Check it out,” my boyfriend said, angling his rash-covered arms in front of the camera. Despite his best precautions, after a day of yard work, he was covered in poison ivy. Over video chat, he showed off the pustules that…

“It’s fine,” he said, wincing while putting his socks back on. “I’m glad to know how awful it feels. I’ve seen a bunch of …

5 tips to medical resident success

Lisa Sieczkowski, MD

October 10, 2018Oct 10, 2018

The glorious season is upon us. Yes, it is finally autumn. But it is also the season of ERAS with all of its letters of recommendation, USMLE scores, medical school transcripts, and personal statements. I have dutifully reviewed dozens of…

I have dutifully reviewed dozens of applicants whose last names begin with the letters “T” through “Z.” I have noted the test scores and grades. I have considered the caliber of medical school and whether the LORs …

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5 tips to medical resident success

How medical school saved this student’s life

Natasha Abadilla

October 9, 2018Oct 9, 2018

Note: This article contains language about physical assault that could be upsetting to some readers. Stanford Medical School saved my life. Not in the metaphorical way, but in a very literal way. If I didn’t start medical school when I…

Note: This article contains language about physical assault that could be upsetting to some readers.

Stanford Medical School saved my life. Not in the metaphorical way, but in a very literal way. If I didn’t start medical school when I did, there is a high chance I wouldn’t be alive today.

I struggled writing this piece because only a small handful of people know my story. By the time you’re done reading …

I learned how to be a good doctor in theater school

Lauren Klingman

October 8, 2018Oct 8, 20184

It’s hard for me to believe that a few years ago, I completely turned my back on an acting career I had spent almost two decades building and instead decided to forge into an unknown world of medicine. Even now, with nearly seven years of experience in the medical field and currently in my fourth year of medical school, I sometimes feel lost for an identity.

At the time of my …

Judges versus coaches in medical education

Muthu Alagappan, MD

October 4, 2018Oct 4, 2018

I flash a smile as I look up from my notes. “Do it again,” I say, encouraged by his progress, “but this time start with the physical exam.” I am the internal medicine resident leading our “twilight” admitting team, and Vikram, a student on the first day of his medicine clerkship, sits across from me. It is his third time practicing the presentation of Ms. R, a 56-year-old woman with …

Medical education

Articles, page 43

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