Medical education

2,303 articles · Since 2007

Articles, page 89

When talking with patients, sometimes we skip steps

November 21, 2013Nov 21, 20132

“Ms. M,” the resident says, “I saw in your chart that the last time you had surgery you had a pulmonary embolism.” She nods with recognition: “I felt like I couldn’t breathe. It was really scary.” Then: “I sure don’t want that again.” The resident lifts up the covers and sees that the patient’s calves don compression boots. “Make sure you keep the boots on,” he says, pointing.

What do boots …

Primary care suffers from guideline overload

Paul Bergl, MD

November 21, 2013Nov 21, 20139

In my 3 years of residency, the nearly universal resident response to outpatient continuity clinic was a disturbing, guttural groan. I recognize that many aspects of primary care drag down even the most enduring physicians. But I have also found primary care — particularly with a panel of high-risk and complex patients — to be a welcome challenge. I recently spoke with one of my institution’s main advocates for academic primary …

Doctors need to remember that they need to be human first

David L. Katz, MD

November 14, 2013Nov 14, 20137

In medicine, we pledge: primum non nocere. First, do no harm. But before we can do no harm as doctors, we need to be doctors. And before we can be doctors, we need to be human beings. Being a doctor…

In medicine, we pledge: primum non nocere. First, do no harm. But before we can do no harm as doctors, we need to be doctors. And before we can be doctors, we need to be human beings. Being a doctor is a great privilege, but it is a subordinate privilege. Being human comes first.

I distinctly recall the time in my medical education when I realized I was becoming more medical …

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What does it mean to be a medical intern?

Brian J. Secemsky, MD

November 3, 2013Nov 3, 2013

Since the beginning of it all, since that exact moment where I shot up from my friend’s dorm room cot with a revelation to pursue my ancestral calling in medicine, I have been continually questioned by family and friends on exactly where I sit in the totem pole of physicianhood. And I get it. With terms like sub-intern, intern, senior resident and attending, it must be confusing …

How do I stay human in a system comprised of superhuman demands?

Jenna Cottral

October 27, 2013Oct 27, 20135

When we die, we die alone. Regardless the number of those who surround our deathbed, we experience our last breath alone. Our last feeling of pain. Our last moment of hope. Our last words, our parting gift to the sentient world as we depart the duress of consciousness. The ethereal message leaves our lips to pierce the very tangible aroma of Clorox and human excrement. The hearts of the healthy, …

When do medical students lose their empathy?

Dr. Sonia Henry

October 26, 2013Oct 26, 201317

It’s common knowledge among third year medical students that statistically a lot of us are mentally damaged in some way. Knowing these stats makes us feel better about our ongoing feelings of low self esteem, high anxiety and sometimes outright panic. In the car on the way to rotations, regular starters of conversation are statements like, “Did you know 35% of med students are depressed at any given time?”, to …

Does board recertification do more harm than good?

Wes Fisher, MD

October 25, 2013Oct 25, 20135

I continue to study for my third ABIM recertifications in both cardiovascular disease and cardiac electrophysiology. In preparation for the examinations, I purchased the review materials offered by the American College of Cardiology called ACCSAP-8 and took a surprisingly expensive cardiac electrophysiology board review course held in Chicago recently. I find I have little time to study all of this material while delivering patient care, so I’ve been getting up at 4:30-5:00am each day when …

What’s the best way to keep up with medical literature?

Paul Bergl, MD

October 23, 2013Oct 23, 20137

As a resident, probably the most common piece of feedback one receives is, “Read more and expand your clinical knowledge base.” This critique is a standard and generic piece of feedback to encourage the younger generation to never quit in the endless pursuit of knowledge. As our erudite attendings know, medical knowledge always evolves and often reverses course. Thus, the trainee is reminded to establish the habit of keeping up …

Are you dating the person or the patient?

Catherine Spaulding, MD

October 21, 2013Oct 21, 20135

I was 15-years-old the first time I went on a date. Like any rookie, I had no idea what to expect. As my date and I sat at the red-and-white-checkered table at TGI Fridays, I watched his expression slowly change from one of interest to trepidation; after drowning him with endless conversation, I was hardly surprised when he informed me that he would not be calling for a second date. …

Finding the most promising innovations to teach value

Andy Levy, MD & Christopher Moriates, MD & Neel Shah, MD & Vineet Arora, MD

October 19, 2013Oct 19, 20132

Earlier this year, we launched the Teaching Value and Choosing Wisely Competition in conjunction with Costs of Care and the ABIM Foundation. Why a competition? Not surprisingly, traditional “literature review” yielded little by way of promising strategies for educators who…

However, we had all learned of isolated stories of success, occasionally through attending professional meetings, sometimes via networking with colleagues, or more …

Had I met her anywhere but the hospital, I would have helped her

Ilana Yurkiewicz

October 16, 2013Oct 16, 2013

Had I met her anywhere but the hospital, I would have gone to her side. I would have asked her what was wrong. I would have offered to help. She was 99-years-old and about to undergo surgery. Pre-operative holding is…

Had I met her anywhere but the hospital, I would have gone to her side. I would have asked her what was wrong. I would have offered to help.

She was 99-years-old and about to undergo surgery. Pre-operative holding is generally a busy place. Patients lie in gurneys, spending some last moments with loved ones and fielding questions from various players of the surgical team as they come to the bedside. No, …

Should medical school be shortened by a year?

Christopher Johnson, MD

October 15, 2013Oct 15, 201312

We have been training physicians the same way for a century, ever since the famous Flexner Report of 1910. That report was commissioned by the Carnegie Foundation in an attempt to improve medical education. Up until then many medical schools were simply terrible. Many were proprietary schools, owned by doctors and run for profit rather than education. Many doctors met their first actual patient after they graduated.

During the decade following Flexner report these proprietary …

Acknowledge the human aspect of our medical experiences

Joyce Ho, MD

October 14, 2013Oct 14, 20133

Recently, a lot of my classmates have been passing around a New York Times article titled "Medicine’s Search for Meaning," a piece detailing the high burnout rates of doctors-in-training and the inadequacies of medical education to address physician wellness. What…

Recently, a lot of my classmates have been passing around a New York Times article titled “Medicine’s Search for Meaning,” a piece detailing the high burnout rates of doctors-in-training and the inadequacies of medical education to address physician wellness. What I found to be of the most saddening paragraphs in the article goes as follows:

Nearly half of medical students become burned out during their training. Medical education has

…

Applying to medical school: The fuss about extracurricular activities

Alexa Mieses

October 13, 2013Oct 13, 20137

An excerpt from The Heartbeat of Success: A Med Student's Guide to Med School Admissions. What’s all the fuss about extracurricular activities? Isn’t doing well in your coursework and on the MCAT enough to get into medical school? Nope. Extracurricular…

An excerpt from The Heartbeat of Success: A Med Student’s Guide to Med School Admissions.

What’s all the fuss about extracurricular activities? Isn’t doing well in your coursework and on the MCAT enough to get into medical school? Nope. Extracurricular activities and employment are opportunities to explore your interests, become involved in your community, develop a project or earn money to support yourself. Saying you love to …

Medical students may find themselves without a job

Christy Duan

October 12, 2013Oct 12, 201364

“Well, if medicine doesn’t work out, you can always fall back on waiting tables,” I joked with my waiter, who, like me, happens to be a medical student. We were bonding over completing our first year of medical school — he, in Detroit, and myself, in the Bronx. He liked waiting tables and decided to work during his last summer of …

How do we empower patients with information while not scaring them?

Paul Bergl, MD

October 9, 2013Oct 9, 2013

“What do you think, Doctor?” For a novice physician, these worlds can quickly jolt a relatively straightforward conversation into a jumble of partially formed thoughts, suppositions, jargon, and (sometimes) incoherent ramblings. Even for simpler questions, the fumbling trainee does not…

“What do you think, Doctor?”

For a novice physician, these worlds can quickly jolt a relatively straightforward conversation into a jumble of partially formed thoughts, suppositions, jargon, and (sometimes) incoherent ramblings. Even for simpler questions, the fumbling trainee does not have a convenient script that has been refined through years of recitation. Thus, many conversations that residents have with patients are truly occurring for the first time. And unfortunately, this novelty …

Technology should not define medical education

Terence P. Ma, PhD

October 8, 2013Oct 8, 2013

In July, I began an exciting role at Einstein: assistant dean for educational informatics. One of my main objectives is to optimize the use of technology to advance and deepen learning. But as much as I welcome it, technology alone…

Recently, David J. Hefland, the president and vice chancellor of Canada’s Quest University, characterized the model of contemporary education as “students as empty vessels that must be …

Sub-internship: The small stones are under my guardianship

Shara Yurkiewicz

October 8, 2013Oct 8, 2013

On my second day of fourth year, I had to make a decision. “Mr. K would like Miralax,” read the nurse’s page. A medical sub-internship, which a student completes in her fourth year, is designed to be an internship with…

On my second day of fourth year, I had to make a decision.

“Mr. K would like Miralax,” read the nurse’s page.

A medical sub-internship, which a student completes in her fourth year, is designed to be an internship with training wheels. The main difference between third and fourth year is that the third year reports to an intern (who makes a decision) while the fourth year replaces the intern. Last year …

Being a good medical student doesn’t mean you’ll be a good doctor

Amy Faith Ho, MD

October 6, 2013Oct 6, 201325

There is a saying that you enter medical school wanting to help people but exit it wanting to help yourself. It may be a cynical view, but a realistic one. The criteria for being a good medical student are far different from being a good doctor. Medical education may be breeding a legion of self-serving, grade-grubbing, SOAP-note spewing machines rather than …

EMRs make it easier to just order the test

Corbin Rayfield

October 5, 2013Oct 5, 20135

The discourse on the problems of the modern healthcare system contains much vitriol and blame. There is a distinct flavor of adversarial combat in the discussion; pitting physicians, those in the trenches, with those politicians and lawmakers on the other side. With estimates of healthcare costs exceeding 15% of the gross domestic product of the United States, it is easy to understand the passion that the topic evokes. The complexity …

Medical education

Articles, page 89

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