Medical education

2,303 articles · Since 2007

Articles, page 51

What do you say to somebody who knows that they are about to die?

January 16, 2018Jan 16, 2018

I’ve had lots of practice comforting people. I’ve had to tell patients that their cancer is back in a busy emergency department. I’ve updated family members of patients who are being kept alive by machines in the intensive care unit. I’ve walked alongside patients as they get rolled into an operating room, and crouched down by a patient’s bed as they writhe in pain. There have been moments of fear, …

20 anecdotes that describe the world of female medical students and physicians

Jamie Katuna

January 13, 2018Jan 13, 201822

I recently collected anecdotes from women in medicine who have noticed the same thing I’ve noticed: We’re not as comfortable here as our male counterparts. Despite progress, medicine remains a patriarchy — an “old boy’s club” — and the women in this world are frequently reminded of this status quo. In collecting these anecdotes, I’ve noticed two main themes for the type of advice and comments women receive.

The first one speaks …

The non-difference between MDs and DOs

Brandon Jacobi

January 8, 2018Jan 8, 20185

“What’s a DO?” is something virtually every osteopathic medical student and physician have been asked at some point in their training. There is this public misconception that professionals who carry MD after their names are the only qualified people to medically treat their ailments. Any other degree is categorized as “alternative medicine” in their mental schema. Truth be told, DOs, or doctors of osteopathic medicine are just as qualified as …

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The non-difference between MDs and DOs

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Please change the culture of surgery

Anonymous

January 8, 2018Jan 8, 20184

It is December 2017. I have been on the road for the last five months, completing my five months of elective rotations. I am a fourth-year medical student aspiring to specialize in family medicine. I also want to learn procedures, so I did two months of surgery, three months of family practice electives. At the beginning of this process, I had wanted to be a general surgeon, but I ended …

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Please change the culture of surgery

What is the right reaction for a physician when her daughter goes pre-med?

Elizabeth Blanchard, MD

January 8, 2018Jan 8, 201815

I asked a colleague at a recent dinner meeting about his children. They’re all grown, he said, one is actually a doctor. But, he added quickly, “I had nothing to do with it.” His son had chosen his father’s field of radiology, though my colleague similarly disavowed any influence. He did mention, with some relief, that his son was happy with his choice.

About a year earlier, I was catching up …

Medical students: It is OK to not feel OK

Jamie Katuna

January 7, 2018Jan 7, 20183

I pulled into my driveway at 1 in the morning after spending eight consecutive hours in the library. I shut the engine off and allowed the music to continue. And I didn’t move. And then I started to cry. Initially,…

I pulled into my driveway at 1 in the morning after spending eight consecutive hours in the library. I shut the engine off and allowed the music to continue. And I didn’t move.

And then I started to cry. Initially, I resisted the tears, then conceded to the overpowering emotions so desperate to escape. And for ten minutes, I sat in my dark car in the cold at 1 in the morning …

Lessons from the psychiatric ward

Kristin Puhl, MD

January 7, 2018Jan 7, 20183

The specter of the psych ward looms large in popular culture: video games, horror movies, novels — the concept of a locked inpatient psychiatric ward is shorthand for a variety of terrors. This perception is driven by a complex cocktail of factors. Psych ward patients have struggled with historical and current abuses, which are compounded by misunderstanding and ignorance around mental illness.

During third year, I spent a six-week rotation in …

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Lessons from the psychiatric ward

Doctors: It is never too late to step up and fulfill the true potential of your voice

Charlene Gaw

January 4, 2018Jan 4, 20182

I entered medical school with an intense desire to take care of others. A naturally — sometimes overbearingly — caring person with a penchant for science, becoming a physician was my dream since middle school. My naiveté was quickly slapped…

My naiveté was quickly slapped by reality when I realized people enter medicine for many other reasons: prestige, job stability, income or a genius fascination of science that sometimes overlooks the suffering human. This crushed my …

Doctors aren’t just white coats without a face

Devon Romano

December 31, 2017Dec 31, 2017

Doctors are all the same: A sea of uniform “white coats without a face” caring for “patients without a face.” They heal the sick. They save lives. And they drive their fancy sports cars to their expensive homes and cushy…

Doctors are all the same: A sea of uniform “white coats without a face” caring for “patients without a face.”

They heal the sick. They save lives.

And they drive their fancy sports cars to their expensive homes and cushy lives.

Not.

I am embarrassed to admit, as a pre-med/medical school hopeful, this was my perception of physicians and patient care before completing two summer internships at a doctor’s office.

A problem that the majority …

If you don’t teach IMGs, maybe you should start

Denelle Mohammed

December 30, 2017Dec 30, 20175

“I don’t teach IMGs.” It was such a simple and concise statement. Four words. But it felt like a bullet that was heated in the depths of hell had pierced through my heart when I heard those words. My ears…

“I don’t teach IMGs.”

It was such a simple and concise statement. Four words. But it felt like a bullet that was heated in the depths of hell had pierced through my heart when I heard those words. My ears burned and I felt physically ill. I wondered to myself, “Am I really that bad at medicine? Am I even going to make it? Should I just quit?” I felt lesser …

Here’s what it’s like to be a student on a health care team

Rachel Bigley

December 27, 2017Dec 27, 20175

As a first-year medical student, I have the privilege of observing medical practice from two perspectives: as a patient and as a student learning how to think like a doctor. I interview patients with deliberation and overthink every part of the physical exam and every detail of the patient’s history. I attempt to convey the patient’s condition, feelings, and pain as I present to my attending. I also marvel at …

Pass-fail in medical school. But the stress remains.

Orly Farber

December 26, 2017Dec 26, 20172

Greetings from the library. I’m writing to you through caffeine jitters, wrapped in a scarf that doubles as a blanket. I’ve marked my territory with my things: several Apple products, remnants of oatmeal in a mason jar, a sketchbook exhibiting my best attempt drawing the inside of a skull, and the most-essential item: my planner, detailing all the tasks I now avoid.

I’m in the midst of my first round of …

What it’s really like in a post-baccalaureate program

Neil Kondamuri

December 21, 2017Dec 21, 2017

More than 15 percent of last year’s new crop of first-year medical students completed a post-baccalaureate program. These programs exist in two flavors: one type helps students who want to improve their undergraduate academic record, and the other helps those…

With so many future doctors launching …

Going skin deep: Is a tattoo ethically binding?

Cody Mullens

December 14, 2017Dec 14, 2017

There's currently an image in heavy circulation making its way around the internet of a hospital patient's chest tattooed with the words "Do **not** resuscitate," accompanied by what is assumed to be the man's signature. This 70-year-old patient arrived at…

There’s currently an image in heavy circulation making its way around the internet of a hospital patient’s chest tattooed with the words “Do **not** resuscitate,” accompanied by what is assumed to be the man’s signature. This 70-year-old patient arrived at an emergency department unconscious with elevated blood alcohol levels. He did not have any form of identification on him, and his health care providers did not have an identifiable means …

This physician is burned out. But not for the reason you think.

Anonymous

December 12, 2017Dec 12, 20173

I am an Olympian. I am a retired All-American student-athlete. I am a resident. I am burned out. Let me be clear: I love medicine and the opportunity to have privileged relationships with patients and their families. I thrive on…

I am an Olympian. I am a retired All-American student-athlete. I am a resident. I am burned out.

Let me be clear: I love medicine and the opportunity to have privileged relationships with patients and their families. I thrive on the fast-paced environment, growing to-do lists, and the chance to work in a field with endless learning. I love working in team environments to provide optimal care for patients and their …

It’s important to give patients an idea of what to expect

Kristin Puhl, MD

December 11, 2017Dec 11, 2017

The familiarity that health care professionals develop with complex medical procedures and topics is the result of years upon years of hard work, and over time we become accustomed to the jargon. We use phrases like “lap chole” and “appy” without much thought when talking to each other and (if we have a momentary lapse) with patients. We take the fantastic array of medical specialties, procedures, and knowledge in our …

The residency hunt is no small task: Here’s some advice for medical students

Jennifer Adaeze Okwerekwu, MD

December 10, 2017Dec 10, 2017

'Tis the season. Thanksgiving? Sure. Christmas? That too. But for thousands of fourth-year medical students and foreign medical graduates all over the United States, fall through early winter is a time of job hunting — interviewing for residencies. This is…

‘Tis the season.

Thanksgiving? Sure. Christmas? That too. But for thousands of fourth-year medical students and foreign medical graduates all over the United States, fall through early winter is a time of job hunting — interviewing for residencies. This is a critical step in our training, where we specialize in the individual fields of medicine that will carry …

Why aren’t doctors allowed to grieve?

Kirsten Lederer

December 9, 2017Dec 9, 20175

My alarm went off at 4:15 a.m. I lay in bed dreading the day ahead of me. By 4:50 a.m., I arrive at the nursing home where I was doing a geriatric rotation. A stack of charts and a patient…

My alarm went off at 4:15 a.m. I lay in bed dreading the day ahead of me. By 4:50 a.m., I arrive at the nursing home where I was doing a geriatric rotation. A stack of charts and a patient complaint list was awaiting me. On the list were the usual suspects: a follow up for lab results, a fall, abdominal pain. And at the bottom was a note on …

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Why aren’t doctors allowed to grieve?

An eye-opening rotation at the Indian Health Service

Eric Schmidt

December 8, 2017Dec 8, 2017

For the month of September, I embarked on the experience of a lifetime, living and working on the largest Native American reservation in the United States. Sprawled across the four corners region of Utah, Arizona, New Mexico and Colorado, the Navajo Reservation in Chinle, Arizona, encompasses an area as large as the entire state of West Virginia. Its population, however, is only about 300,000, making it extremely rural. To leave …

Teaching residents to teach will improve medical education

Kristin Puhl, MD

December 1, 2017Dec 1, 2017

Medical residents take on a variety of responsibilities. Some are clear, upfront, and obvious: the responsibilities they have been training for since entering medical school. Coming up with a treatment plan and carrying it out is first and foremost their raison d’etre, and they put an enormous amount of effort into it. However, they also acquire a host of other duties. They run interference for attendings. They coordinate with nursing. …

Medical education

Articles, page 51

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