I recently gave two talks at my residency program, one on health care innovation and another on intimate partner violence. I know little about each topic, but my goal as presenter was merely to know more than each person in…
I recently gave two talks at my residency program, one on health care innovation and another on intimate partner violence. I know little about each topic, but my goal as presenter was merely to know more than each person in the room. To require residents to give talks as newly-minted “experts” on topics creates a paradox of generating both anxiety and …
When I began volunteering during my first year of medical school at our student-run free clinic, I noticed that I felt stressed out in the chaotic environment, from the director’s tough questions and the long wait times to present to…
When I began volunteering during my first year of medical school at our student-run free clinic, I noticed that I felt stressed out in the chaotic environment, from the director’s tough questions and the long wait times to present to an attending. My muscles tight, I would feel exhausted after leaving the clinic. I knew, even at that time, it was …
I just stepped out of the administrative building at medical school and hear a big commotion. I look over and see an elderly male slouched on the ground bleeding profusely from his mouth and nose. Blood is soaking the front…
I just stepped out of the administrative building at medical school and hear a big commotion. I look over and see an elderly male slouched on the ground bleeding profusely from his mouth and nose. Blood is soaking the front of his collared shirt and pooling on the ground. Bystanders are making a scene and not sure what to do.
I drop the items I’m carrying and calmly approach the man and …
I didn’t really notice him standing in line. But how could I? Hundreds of kids came through the high school gym yesterday. His turn for the heart and lung portion of the high school sports physical had come. He said…
I didn’t really notice him standing in line. But how could I? Hundreds of kids came through the high school gym yesterday. His turn for the heart and lung portion of the high school sports physical had come. He said he was going to play baseball and basketball. How could he with that arm he carried so carefully? I am not …
I keep getting served a Facebook ad from the American Association of Medical Colleges imploring me to ask politicians to fund residency training for medical school graduates. The link leads to a webpage with neat graphics and a series of…
I keep getting served a Facebook ad from the American Association of Medical Colleges imploring me to ask politicians to fund residency training for medical school graduates. The link leads to a webpage with neat graphics and a series of well-designed cartoons dramatizing an ominous shortage of 90,000 doctors expected to occur by 2025.
Now, the notion of “doctor shortage” by itself is meaningless. Doctors — …
An excerpt form Baby City: An Inside Look into Labor & Delivery. I am going to make this medical student cry. I don’t know how I know it, but somehow I can sense it. I know it the second she…
I don’t know how I know it, but somehow I can sense it. I know it the second she walks into the resident room on labor and delivery at Cadence Hospital, her perfect blond ponytail swinging behind her. And I’m certain of it when she holds her slim …
I was volunteering at one of the free clinics associated with my medical school last weekend, and while teaching a medical student how to sew a cut, he queried, "That is an interesting technique, who taught you how to suture?…
I was volunteering at one of the free clinics associated with my medical school last weekend, and while teaching a medical student how to sew a cut, he queried, “That is an interesting technique, who taught you how to suture? Are you a surgeon?”
“I am actually a radiologist,” I replied. “To answer your first question, I was actually taught this by an obstetrician during my third year of medical school.”
We don’t even have to ask, and we can tell by the bags under your eyes. It’s so obvious that you are a medical student. References in every pocket of your short white coat, pulling down on your shoulders until…
During my family medicine rotation, my very first clinical clerkship of medical school, I was assigned to make a home visit to one of my preceptor's patients—a man I will call Mr. Jones. Mr. Jones had congestive heart failure, COPD,…
During my family medicine rotation, my very first clinical clerkship of medical school, I was assigned to make a home visit to one of my preceptor’s patients—a man I will call Mr. Jones.
Mr. Jones had congestive heart failure, COPD, and a barrage of other chronic health problems. He was a pleasant gentleman but had a low level of health literacy and had been doing a poor job of taking his …
There he stood at our beach party, the family doctor I grew up admiring. I timidly approached his circle of friends to announce I had gotten into medical school and would start in the fall. He stopped to attention. His…
There he stood at our beach party, the family doctor I grew up admiring. I timidly approached his circle of friends to announce I had gotten into medical school and would start in the fall. He stopped to attention. His friends stood watching. I couldn’t conceal my smile. I thought, “He is going to be so excited for me!”
“Write your name on the paper,” he said. Since he was a senior who’d just gotten into medical school, and I was a simple sophomore who’d chosen to attend the session, I did. “Now write Dr. in front of it.”…
“Write your name on the paper,” he said. Since he was a senior who’d just gotten into medical school, and I was a simple sophomore who’d chosen to attend the session, I did. “Now write Dr. in front of it.” I complied. “If you’re reading that and you don’t feel anything, medicine isn’t for you,” he said. I looked at it again, my name with a Dr. in front of …
As a freshman in college, I helped my aunt with her obstetric appointments to try and see what it meant to be an obstetrician. After her delivery, I asked her OB about her college majors, and she told me she…
As a freshman in college, I helped my aunt with her obstetric appointments to try and see what it meant to be an obstetrician. After her delivery, I asked her OB about her college majors, and she told me she majored in history. The next week, I signed up to start my history minor.
Was that mentorship? No. Granted, having a liberal arts background has been extremely helpful in my medical …
In just under two months, I will be making two big transitions as I begin life as a resident. The first and obvious change is from student to doctor. The second doesn’t get the same spotlight, but might be just…
In just under two months, I will be making two big transitions as I begin life as a resident. The first and obvious change is from student to doctor. The second doesn’t get the same spotlight, but might be just as important: from student to teacher.
Residents play a vital role in medical student teaching. With medical training like an apprenticeship, it is the residents with whom third-year medical students often …
When we got an NIH grant last year to ascertain how teens could get their peers interested in research careers, we did not anticipate turning to Jimmy Kimmel for inspiration. Kimmel’s “Lie Witness News” segment is notorious for asking unsuspecting…
When we got an NIH grant last year to ascertain how teens could get their peers interested in research careers, we did not anticipate turning to Jimmy Kimmel for inspiration.
Kimmel’s “Lie Witness News” segment is notorious for asking unsuspecting pedestrians to share their opinions about ridiculous topics from a new “scented” iPhone to the “appointment” of Judge Judy to the U.S. Supreme Court. While the interviews are purely for amusement, …
There she lay: a 59-year old woman who had become increasingly disoriented and confused. Not only did she have an infection in her bloodstream, years of alcohol abuse had taken its toll on her liver, leaving her skin yellowed. “Welcome…
There she lay: a 59-year old woman who had become increasingly disoriented and confused. Not only did she have an infection in her bloodstream, years of alcohol abuse had taken its toll on her liver, leaving her skin yellowed.
“Welcome to the ICU,” I thought. In contrast to my previous clinical experience, I found this patient encounter unsettling.
No conversation.
No personality.
No interaction.
She was nothing more than a body in a bed punctured …
At a recent block party, neighbors asked me questions about the life of a resident. It amazed me how little the general public still knows about the hours a resident works. Over the years, TV shows have shed some light…
At a recent block party, neighbors asked me questions about the life of a resident. It amazed me how little the general public still knows about the hours a resident works. Over the years, TV shows have shed some light on what the experience of a resident is like, although none are quite realistic, but it is hard to appreciate from …
“Have you had any horrible problems with wait times?” shouted the reporter as he jogged towards the van pulling out of the parking lot. Leaning in so far that his head actually crossed the window’s threshold yet still audible from…
“Have you had any horrible problems with wait times?” shouted the reporter as he jogged towards the van pulling out of the parking lot.
Leaning in so far that his head actually crossed the window’s threshold yet still audible from across the street, he continued “We’re looking for people who’ve had terrible experiences here!” So it was last week walking in to work at the Durham VA Medical Center.
We don’t even have to ask, and you certainly don’t need to get out your credentials. It’s so obvious that you are a medical student. And it’s not just the short white coat and student identification badge half-hidden in your…
We don’t even have to ask, and you certainly don’t need to get out your credentials.
It’s so obvious that you are a medical student.
And it’s not just the short white coat and student identification badge half-hidden in your linen pocket that says it all.
We’ve seen you at all hours around the hospital during your clinical rotations. You tend to appear a half-hour before everyone else, just in time to commandeer …
While reading the book Lean In by Sheryl Sandberg, I was mesmerized by her insight about the self-perpetuating difficulties women face during their careers; however, something was missing. Mrs. Sandberg, the COO of Facebook, wrote an enlightening novel about the…
While reading the book Lean In by Sheryl Sandberg, I was mesmerized by her insight about the self-perpetuating difficulties women face during their careers; however, something was missing.
Mrs. Sandberg, the COO of Facebook, wrote an enlightening novel about the differences in mindset between the genders and how this hinders women in their career. I found that she was spot on with my experience as a woman pursuing medicine. Like Mrs. …
How to insert a central line had been drilled into me long before my first attempt, and I was admittedly nervous performing my first procedure as an intern. But, as a senior resident, watching the intern in front of me…
How to insert a central line had been drilled into me long before my first attempt, and I was admittedly nervous performing my first procedure as an intern. But, as a senior resident, watching the intern in front of me insert his needle into the patient’s neck was ten times more anxiety-provoking. I wanted to guide him successfully through the first of many procedures he would need to master, in …
