Medical education

2,303 articles · Since 2007

Articles, page 92

Declining board exam pass rates: Blame millennial doctors?

July 8, 2013Jul 8, 201321

An interesting conversation recently took place among residency program directors in my field of internal medicine. At issue was the declining pass rate of first-time test takers of the ABIM Certification Exam. It’s a mouthful to say, but the ABIM…

An interesting conversation recently took place among residency program directors in my field of internal medicine.

At issue was the declining pass rate of first-time test takers of the ABIM Certification Exam.

It’s a mouthful to say, but the ABIM exam is the ultimate accolade for internists. One is only eligible to take the exam after having successfully completed a three-year residency training period (the part that includes “internship,” right after medical …

It’s hard to grasp the experience of being a patient

Madeline Sterling, MD

July 7, 2013Jul 7, 201310

My time as a medical student has quickly come to an end. This past winter, with nearly four years of arduous study, countless examinations and numerous clinical rotations under my belt, I couldn't help but think, Yes, I'm ready to…

And then I became a patient.

I’d always thought I knew what it’s like to be the patient. For much of my childhood, my father suffered from chronic fatigue syndrome, …

The July effect: Welcome to the summer of supervision

Vineet Arora, MD

July 7, 2013Jul 7, 20134

While everyone has heard the old adage about not getting sick in July because of new interns, the truth is that new interns nationwide have started already. Yet, you don’t hear much about the “late June effect?” So is the…

So is the July effect overblown or true? Well, there have been many studies – so many so there was a recent systematic review co-authored by one of my own co-interns a long time ago. …

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Dr. Wachter reflects after completing his term at the ABIM

Robert Wachter, MD

July 6, 2013Jul 6, 201322

I recently completed my last day as chair of the ABIM, and ended my eight-year tenure on the Board. In this blog – a bookend to the one I wrote at the start of the year, which went near-viral – I’ll describe some of our accomplishments this year and a few of the challenges that I leave my talented successors to grapple with.

I had two very tangible tasks to …

The powers that be had spoken and I felt powerless

Jessica Heney

July 5, 2013Jul 5, 20138

As a medical student, one quickly learns not to question the wisdom of authorities, and appropriately so. Do your work quietly and conscientiously and study hard. Take all criticism enthusiastically and graciously. Do not speak unless spoken to. Beyond the compassion and empathy we are all expected to champion, these are the proverbial medical student keys to success. In our roles as the lowest rung on the medical ladder, this …

The third year of medical school serves a wonderful purpose

Robert Centor, MD

July 4, 2013Jul 4, 20134

I still think that the third year of medical school serves a wonderful purpose. I never learned more during my entire school experience (perhaps I learned more as an intern, but that is post-graduate). Danielle Ofri writes through darkened lenses:…

Danielle Ofri writes through darkened lenses: The Darkest Year of Medical School.

So for the non-physician readers let me give my opinions on the third year of medical school. After two years of mostly classroom experiences, our …

A powerful address to graduating medical students

Wes Fisher, MD

July 1, 2013Jul 1, 201312

Dear Graduating Class of 2013, I appreciate the opportunity to address such an impressive pool of medical school attendees. From the first day of medical school when you were introduced to your cadaver, you have endured countless lectures and lab…

Dear Graduating Class of 2013,

I appreciate the opportunity to address such an impressive pool of medical school attendees. From the first day of medical school when you were introduced to your cadaver, you have endured countless lectures and lab hours, physical examination and sensitivity training sessions, and ward rotations under the watchful eye of senior residents and attendings. Today, you will hold something that few people are privileged to …

How should we be training the next generation of doctors?

Janice Boughton, MD

June 28, 2013Jun 28, 20137

I have been spending time at an academic medical center lately and I'm noticing some obvious flaws in our method of shaping the doctors of the future. When I went to medical school I was trained by physicians who were…

I have been spending time at an academic medical center lately and I’m noticing some obvious flaws in our method of shaping the doctors of the future.

When I went to medical school I was trained by physicians who were eminent in their areas of specialty and also did some research. They taught in classrooms and as attending physicians when we were working on the wards as doctors in training. I …

The inspirational power celebrities have on patients

Robert Spencer, MD

June 25, 2013Jun 25, 20136

I will never forget my first Kenny G concert. It was in the fall of 1994, just a few weeks after I had undergone my second eye surgery, which I had needed to repair my cranial nerve palsy. By that…

I will never forget my first Kenny G concert. It was in the fall of 1994, just a few weeks after I had undergone my second eye surgery, which I had needed to repair my cranial nerve palsy. By that time, I’d already suffered through five other operations from the neck up, and in my seven-year-old mind, I had somehow convinced …

Using Google Docs to manage patients more efficiently

Avanthi Jayaweera

June 25, 2013Jun 25, 201318

During my sophomore year of college as a pre-med, I volunteered at the front desk of a free clinic, where it was typical to see patients waiting sometimes for more than two hours. At first I figured it was just because some patients took longer to examine than others. It wasn’t until I got certified as a nurse’s aide and started working in the medical department at the same clinic …

Every doctor can learn from a medical coder

Jessica Jou

June 23, 2013Jun 23, 201316

Mrs. B was washing dishes in the kitchen when she heard a thump where her twelve-month-old son was asleep. She ran to him and found her son had fallen from a chair (code: e884.2). He was crying (code: 780.92) and visibly shaken, but did not have overt signs of bleeding, bruising, or trauma. She picked him up and immediately brought him to the emergency room.

There, he was triaged by the …

No anesthesia resident left behind

Shirie Leng, MD

June 21, 2013Jun 21, 20136

At a recent faculty meeting, we learned that the first year residents in anesthesia will now have to take and pass a written exam at the end of their first year. They will have a certain number of tries and if a resident can’t pass it by the third try they’re either out of the program or held back in some way.

Now, it used to be when I was a baby …

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No anesthesia resident left behind

Can the fight against healthcare disparities be won?

Adrian Diaz

June 20, 2013Jun 20, 201312

The summer before starting medical school I had the fortune of traveling to both Southeast Asia and Central America on humanitarian medical relief mission trips. I was initially exhilarated by the idea that I soon too will acquire the skills honed by the doctors, nurses, and other health care providers I was working with. The idea of mastering the science of healing had inspired me for so long, yet the …

The reality of medicine’s inherently unequal power dynamic

Abraar Karan, MD

June 20, 2013Jun 20, 201311

As part of the first-year curriculum, medical students at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA are required to attend chaplain rounds at local hospitals during which they accompany chaplains to offer spiritual care to patients. This is designed to encourage students to empathize with patients who are enduring difficult end-of-life issues and is part of a ubiquitous and important theme that inundates almost every medical student across the …

A good business school student makes for a good medical student

Kevin R. Campbell, MD

June 18, 2013Jun 18, 20135

Medical education today requires students to assimilate lots of facts and amass an incredible fund of knowledge quickly. As medical science advances, more material must be mastered. Medical students must be able to organize facts and apply them to patient care. Medical care today is becoming more of a team effort. Successful physicians must be adept at both leadership roles and in the role of a team member (worker bee). …

AMA: A significant redesign of undergraduate medical education

American Medical Association & Jeremy Lazarus, MD

June 17, 2013Jun 17, 201311

A guest column by the American Medical Association, exclusive to KevinMD.com. To close the gaps between how medical students are educated and how health care is delivered now and in the future, the American Medical Association (AMA) has awarded $11…

A guest column by the American Medical Association, exclusive to KevinMD.com.

To close the gaps between how medical students are educated and how health care is delivered now and in the future, the American Medical Association (AMA) has awarded $11 million to 11 U.S. medical schools to fund their bold proposals that support a significant redesign of undergraduate medical education. This is just one part of the ambitious three-part strategy the …

Should medical resident training be limited to 40 hours per week?

Skeptical Scalpel, MD

June 16, 2013Jun 16, 201316

Dr. Sam Ko says resident work hours should be limited to 40 per week. Via Twitter, I warned him that I would rebut his assertion. Without any data or references except a tangential one, he bases his opinion on four…

Dr. Sam Ko says resident work hours should be limited to 40 per week. Via Twitter, I warned him that I would rebut his assertion.

Without any data or references except a tangential one, he bases his opinion on four premises.

1. Residents will be happier and nicer to patients because they will be less stressed. There is no proof that this is so. In fact, a recent …

Reflection after attending an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting

Robert Spencer, MD

June 13, 2013Jun 13, 201310

I’m two weeks into my psychiatry clerkship, sitting quietly in the back of a crowded Alcoholics Anonymous meeting and watching a middle-aged man discuss his past struggles with alcoholism. He starts with his difficult childhood, describing his abusive father. When he was eleven years old, his parents divorced. Soon after, he resorted to alcohol as an escape from his loneliness, drinking to “fit in” and impress his friends at social gatherings. As …

First day at a family planning clinic

Sophia Lee Ryan

June 13, 2013Jun 13, 20134

I'd prepared as much as I could: I had a huge coffee, a water and every kind of snack imaginable stuffed into my bag. In my head I carried as much information about dilation and curettage as I'd been able…

I’d prepared as much as I could: I had a huge coffee, a water and every kind of snack imaginable stuffed into my bag. In my head I carried as much information about dilation and curettage as I’d been able to absorb during a study session at Starbucks the night before.

I was a third-year medical student doing my obstetrics and gynecology clerkship, and I was about to spend a day …

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First day at a family planning clinic

How to stop medical students from becoming jaded

Robert Centor, MD

June 12, 2013Jun 12, 201357

Recent research suggests that medical students lose empathy during the third (the main clinical year) of school. Talking with end of the year third year students might make you think differently. Understanding the psychological changes that likely occur during the…

Recent research suggests that medical students lose empathy during the third (the main clinical year) of school.

Talking with end of the year third year students might make you think differently. Understanding the psychological changes that likely occur during the third year should make you think differently.

Medicine seems easy during the pre-clinical years. You get smokers to stop and prevent COPD and coronary artery disease. Patients just need to listen …