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Medical education

2,303 articles · Since 2007

Articles, page 57

Defending the increase in duty hour limits

7

The ACGME recently formally increased its work-hour limits for resident physicians, a change that was widely covered in the press.| This decision has also been significantly misreported. While it may seem like all residents will now work for longer hours,…

The ACGME recently formally increased its work-hour limits for resident physicians, a change that was widely covered in the press.|

This decision has also been significantly misreported.  While it may seem like all residents will now work for longer hours, in reality, only first-year interns will be allowed to work longer 24-hour shifts, where the previous maximum was 16 …

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Defending the increase in duty hour limits

Why nurses are the best teachers for medical students

16

It was 5:30 a.m., and I could barely contain my excitement. I was almost done with my clinical rotations. I had worked tirelessly to improve my medical knowledge and spent hours mastering my clinical skills. Now, as I was nearing…

It was 5:30 a.m., and I could barely contain my excitement. I was almost done with my clinical rotations.

I had worked tirelessly to improve my medical knowledge and spent hours mastering my clinical skills. Now, as I was nearing the end of my third year of medical school, I felt more than ready for what lay ahead.

I walked into my patient’s room. As she slept, I examined the lines and …

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Why nurses are the best teachers for medical students

The unlucky privilege of seeing someone’s last moments

“sonder - noun. the realization that each random passerby is living a life as vivid and complex as your own.” – from the "Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows," a compendium of invented words written by John Koenig. I followed the chaplain…

“sonder – noun. the realization that each random passerby is living a life as vivid and complex as your own.”
– from the “Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows,” a compendium of invented words written by John Koenig.

I followed the chaplain into the patient briefing room, not quite sure what to expect. The room was dimly lit. The overhead lights were off, and only one small lamp gave off a weak glow, with …

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The unlucky privilege of seeing someone’s last moments

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A medical student struggles to fight negative thoughts

3

As I turn off my laptop after taking notes for two consecutive hours on microcytic anemia and pack my pens and papers, millions of thoughts come to my mind. Only yesterday, we finished our microbiology exam. Bacteria, viruses, parasites and…

As I turn off my laptop after taking notes for two consecutive hours on microcytic anemia and pack my pens and papers, millions of thoughts come to my mind.

Only yesterday, we finished our microbiology exam. Bacteria, viruses, parasites and fungi mnemonics are still in my mind, many of which I forgot what they refer to. The microbiology exam finished, and another challenge is on the way.

Everyone faces challenges and bumps …

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A medical student struggles to fight negative thoughts

“Are you in ISIS?” my patient asked

19

I pulled on my white coat and straightened my tie before walking into the patient room with my supervising physician, Dr. H. Our patient was a teenage boy with autism, and Dr. H let me take the lead. Towards the…

I pulled on my white coat and straightened my tie before walking into the patient room with my supervising physician, Dr. H. Our patient was a teenage boy with autism, and Dr. H let me take the lead. Towards the end of the visit I asked, as I always do, “Do you have any questions for me?” He had not made eye contact with me throughout the visit, which can …

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“Are you in ISIS?” my patient asked

Should we standardize clerkship grades?

I’ll be honest, when I first matriculated into medical school, I didn’t even know what a USMLE Step exam or clinical clerkship was. In fact, the first time I ever heard of them was from another applicant on the interview…

I’ll be honest, when I first matriculated into medical school, I didn’t even know what a USMLE Step exam or clinical clerkship was. In fact, the first time I ever heard of them was from another applicant on the interview trail. I have always been a take-it-one-step-at-a-time type of person, but eventually, I would have to succumb to the pressure and ask upperclassmen about the exam. And what did they …

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Should we standardize clerkship grades?

Doctors aren’t cops: We need to change gunshot reporting

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On my first trauma shift as a fourth-year medical student, a young, disheveled man with blood-soaked pants hobbled into the emergency department. Wincing in pain, he offered me a bizarre history of being shot in the leg by a nail…

On my first trauma shift as a fourth-year medical student, a young, disheveled man with blood-soaked pants hobbled into the emergency department. Wincing in pain, he offered me a bizarre history of being shot in the leg by a nail gun that went off after he dropped it on some stairs while helping a friend move. He lifted his right pant leg and removed the bloody, tattered bandana wrapped around …

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Doctors aren’t cops: We need to change gunshot reporting

Donors are a medical student’s first teacher

I have fond memories of my first class in the anatomy laboratory. It was the Monday of my first week at medical school. I’d spent the last night pouring over my newly purchased anatomy textbooks. I wondered how I would…

I have fond memories of my first class in the anatomy laboratory. It was the Monday of my first week at medical school. I’d spent the last night pouring over my newly purchased anatomy textbooks. I wondered how I would ever appreciate the countless anatomical details of the human body. But as I stood around the benches with a body donor, everything changed. Suddenly all the organs, vessels and tissues …

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Donors are a medical student’s first teacher

What medical school fails to teach

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This May, I will graduate from medical school. I will also be part of the first group of medical students to graduate from its new Literature and Medicine track. To me and the other participants, this has been one of…

This May, I will graduate from medical school. I will also be part of the first group of medical students to graduate from its new Literature and Medicine track. To me and the other participants, this has been one of the most important components of our medical education. In many ways, it has kept us grounded, serving as a constant reminder that there are experiences different from our own.

We know …

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What medical school fails to teach

“I hate myself. I don’t deserve to be a doctor.”

Dear Dr. Wible, We’ve talked before. To catch you up, I’m in my clinical years now and I keep waiting to feel the same starry-eyed excitement I felt during the first months of med school, when I thought that becoming…

Dear Dr. Wible,

We’ve talked before. To catch you up, I’m in my clinical years now and I keep waiting to feel the same starry-eyed excitement I felt during the first months of med school, when I thought that becoming a doctor would finally give me a tangible purpose and make me a better person by helping me do right by others in …

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“I hate myself. I don’t deserve to be a doctor.”

The hardest thing to do as a physician

I’ve been told that one of the hardest things that a physician endures is the passing of her first patient. However, what I imagine to be even more challenging than this is pronouncing the death to the patient’s family for…

I’ve been told that one of the hardest things that a physician endures is the passing of her first patient. However, what I imagine to be even more challenging than this is pronouncing the death to the patient’s family for the first time. Although I find myself in a similarly intimidating and burdensome position of addressing the loved ones of our gracious donors tonight, for my first time, I feel …

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The hardest thing to do as a physician

A letter from my med student self to me now

Dear Me, MD: Now that you have opened this letter, you may have graduated or maybe you just matched into residency — somewhere, anywhere, hopefully?! As you read this, it should be some time during spring 2017. But, you never…

Dear Me, MD:

Now that you have opened this letter, you may have graduated or maybe you just matched into residency — somewhere, anywhere, hopefully?! As you read this, it should be some time during spring 2017. But, you never know, sometimes the train derails, and it takes a little longer than expected, so forgive yourself if that is the case. You learned a while back that the fast lane is …

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A letter from my med student self to me now

How I went from the bottom to the top 1 percentile on board exams

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Most doctors are very bright people. I believe that what often sets apart those who perform well on the job and on exams isn't raw intelligence but rather the ability to learn effectively. In the MCAT and USMLE steps 1,…

Most doctors are very bright people. I believe that what often sets apart those who perform well on the job and on exams isn’t raw intelligence but rather the ability to learn effectively.

In the MCAT and USMLE steps 1, 2, and 3, I did poorly and barely passed. In 2009, I took my family medicine in-training exam and fell below the minimum passing score. After taking almost five years away from residency …

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How I went from the bottom to the top 1 percentile on board exams

Welcome to planet medicine

Welcome to planet medicine, where four rides around the sun earns you a golden ticket to study more, to train more, and to enjoy splicing two sacred letters onto the end of your title. The days are long, the weeks…

Welcome to planet medicine, where four rides around the sun earns you a golden ticket to study more, to train more, and to enjoy splicing two sacred letters onto the end of your title. The days are long, the weeks go fast, and sleep is optional. In this world, all-star draftees leave their immaculate collegiate careers as masters of memorization and intellectual puzzle solvers only to still be no more …

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Welcome to planet medicine

We made it! An open letter to my son.

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“Ya mero llegamos?” Are we almost there? These become one of the most dreaded words I have to hear every weekend, when I pick you up from the long commute that is from Sacramento to the bay area to spend…

“Ya mero llegamos?”

Are we almost there? These become one of the most dreaded words I have to hear every weekend, when I pick you up from the long commute that is from Sacramento to the bay area to spend time with you. Oftentimes I am just as inpatient as you my love. This has been our sacrifice these last few years, being physically away from one another. I take a deep …

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We made it! An open letter to my son.

Learning surgery one stitch at a time

My mind usually starts to wander around the third or fourth hour of retracting a fat flap or holding up a leg during a long operation. I start by guessing how many times the attending has done this particular procedure.…

My mind usually starts to wander around the third or fourth hour of retracting a fat flap or holding up a leg during a long operation. I start by guessing how many times the attending has done this particular procedure. Is it his hundredth time doing it? If he was one of the older attendings, perhaps it was his thousandth one.

As a neophyte in the operating room, I still relish …

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Learning surgery one stitch at a time

The gunner culture hurts the future of medicine

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As graduation nears, I recall an away rotation that concerns me for the future of medicine. I remember eagerly boarding my plane, ready to work hard, learn as much as possible, and explore the unknown. My first day in clinic,…

As graduation nears, I recall an away rotation that concerns me for the future of medicine. I remember eagerly boarding my plane, ready to work hard, learn as much as possible, and explore the unknown. My first day in clinic, I was excited to befriend the student I would rotate with. After seeing our first patient together, she asked me to share my clinical reasoning for the case. I happily …

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The gunner culture hurts the future of medicine

This one question changed how I thought about medicine

It’s 4:00 p.m. on a Thursday: time to present at teaching attending rounds. I have prepared my presentation and know about the patient’s pathology, but I can never help myself from being incredibly anxious for these moments. I gather my…

It’s 4:00 p.m. on a Thursday: time to present at teaching attending rounds. I have prepared my presentation and know about the patient’s pathology, but I can never help myself from being incredibly anxious for these moments. I gather my papers and begin:

“This is a 49-year-old undomiciled male with a past medical history significant for alcoholism, insulin dependent diabetes mellitus and chronic pancreatitis who presents with hematemesis.”

I take a breath. …

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This one question changed how I thought about medicine

The infantilization of medical students

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I was sitting on hold in the resident room gearing up to beg the IT person that would soon come on the other line for enough authorization to be able to view the residents’ patient problem list, and I found…

I was sitting on hold in the resident room gearing up to beg the IT person that would soon come on the other line for enough authorization to be able to view the residents’ patient problem list, and I found myself thinking about what some of the old docs must think of us third-year students now. Talk to some of these older physicians and they’ll tell you their stories of …

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The infantilization of medical students

Why this medical student joined the National Health Service Corps

Like many of my peers, I started medical school with idealistic dreams of providing compassionate care for poor patients. I thought being a physician was a noble profession and even discussing money, much less changing my career choices based on…

Like many of my peers, I started medical school with idealistic dreams of providing compassionate care for poor patients. I thought being a physician was a noble profession and even discussing money, much less changing my career choices based on it seemed antithetical to that. A visit to the financial aid office quickly cured me of my naiveté. I was facing over $300,000 in debt and would be forgoing millions of …

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Why this medical student joined the National Health Service Corps

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