Hamsika Chandrasekar
Hamsika Chandrasekar is a medical student.
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Latest articles
Medical education
The past three and a half years have flown by, and somehow, I’m completely done with clinical rotations! I just finished up on the pediatric infectious disease service, and this rotation was unlike my others in one key way: I…
The past three and a half years have flown by, and somehow, I’m completely done with clinical rotations! I just finished up on the pediatric infectious disease service, and this rotation was unlike my others in one key way: I was joined on the service by students who are training to be nurse practitioners and pharmacists.
Training alongside other students isn’t itself new, but on every other rotation, they’ve always been …
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Medical students need more interdisciplinary training
Medical education
As a clinical student, I’ve been a part of dozens of outpatient clinic visits, but several days ago, I witnessed a clinic visit much unlike the others. For one, our patient arrived not for a 20-minute appointment, but for a…
As a clinical student, I’ve been a part of dozens of outpatient clinic visits, but several days ago, I witnessed a clinic visit much unlike the others.
For one, our patient arrived not for a 20-minute appointment, but for a three-hour one. As a hemophiliac, this patient came to Stanford once a year, for a comprehensive, coordinated patient care visit, where she saw not only her hematologist but also her social …
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Reminder: Keep it simple for outpatients
Medical education
“I could never go into that specialty. They’re so passive aggressive.” “Those residents are so catty.” “Oh, them? They don’t even know their patient’s names.” “Those residents are such bros.” And so on. I guarantee you that if you’re in…
“I could never go into that specialty. They’re so passive aggressive.”
“Those residents are so catty.”
“Oh, them? They don’t even know their patient’s names.”
“Those residents are such bros.”
And so on.
I guarantee you that if you’re in medicine — or even if you’re not — it would take you no more than two guesses to figure out which specialty each of the above statements is describing. At some point during third year, …
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Let’s end the stereotypes of medical specialties
Medical education
There was a morning where I felt like the smallest human being on earth. It was a morning spent in the OR, where it seemed like I could do nothing right. I placed the Foley incorrectly on my first attempt,…
There was a morning where I felt like the smallest human being on earth. It was a morning spent in the OR, where it seemed like I could do nothing right. I placed the Foley incorrectly on my first attempt, and then ended up removing it incorrectly as well. I nonchalantly brushed past the robot we were using for the case, which was already draped and prepped, and whose sterility I …
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Nothing can cultivate humility like medicine
Medical education
Dear future self, Remember that day on surgery you stepped into the OR for the first time? How you had no idea you were supposed to pull your own gloves for the scrub nurse from the supplies cabinet, or that…
Dear future self,
Remember that day on surgery you stepped into the OR for the first time? How you had no idea you were supposed to pull your own gloves for the scrub nurse from the supplies cabinet, or that you needed to stand an arm’s length away from the equipment table to avoid breaking sterility? Remember how scared you felt? How clumsy you were when you scrubbed in, in a …
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Residents should pay it forward to medical students
Medical education
Over the past eight months, I’ve rotated at the Palo Alto VA, Santa Clara Kaiser, Stanford outpatient family medicine, and pediatrics clinics, and most recently, at Santa Clara Valley. At the VA and Kaiser, all my patients spoke English. Occasionally,…
Over the past eight months, I’ve rotated at the Palo Alto VA, Santa Clara Kaiser, Stanford outpatient family medicine, and pediatrics clinics, and most recently, at Santa Clara Valley. At the VA and Kaiser, all my patients spoke English. Occasionally, at Stanford’s outpatient sites, our patients spoke a language other than English; however, this never felt like a barrier to care because Stanford had phone interpreters available, as well as …
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Should medical school have a language requirement?
Medical education
“I remember how hard it was to be a third-year medical student,” one of my residents once said to me. “You have to appear constantly enthusiastic. You feel continuously judged and evaluated. And worst of all, you know, deep inside,…
“I remember how hard it was to be a third-year medical student,” one of my residents once said to me. “You have to appear constantly enthusiastic. You feel continuously judged and evaluated. And worst of all, you know, deep inside, that if you were to get a cold or something and not show up one day, not one bit of the daily workflow would change because as far as pivotal …
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These are the words that helped a medical student through her struggles
Medical education
As part of the second-year clinical skills course, each member of my class is required to complete two 8-hour emergency department (ED) shifts. I had my first ED shift last week, and when I walked in, I introduced myself as…
As part of the second-year clinical skills course, each member of my class is required to complete two 8-hour emergency department (ED) shifts. I had my first ED shift last week, and when I walked in, I introduced myself as a second-year medical student who needed to practice IV placements, EKGs, and any other procedures that happened to come my way. Three hours later, when I walked out of the …
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From medical student to patient, in a matter of minutes
Medical education
Learning in medical school often feels like learning a completely new language. There are numerous acronyms (OPQRST, CAGE) and molecules (IL-1, TGF-beta) and more. But most striking to me are two particularly ubiquitous buzzwords: “high-yield” and “protected time.” I feel…
Learning in medical school often feels like learning a completely new language. There are numerous acronyms (OPQRST, CAGE) and molecules (IL-1, TGF-beta) and more. But most striking to me are two particularly ubiquitous buzzwords: “high-yield” and “protected time.”
I feel like I heard both these terms — and particularly the former — thrown around every single week of this past school year. High-yield has been used to refer to, as you …
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High-yield and protected time: A medical student’s take
Medical education
This quarter of medical school has by far been my favorite, because almost everything we do has an explicit clinical correlation. Each week we work in small groups of 10 or so students to go over patient cases, practice respiratory…
This quarter of medical school has by far been my favorite, because almost everything we do has an explicit clinical correlation. Each week we work in small groups of 10 or so students to go over patient cases, practice respiratory and cardiovascular (our two organ blocks this quarter) physical exam skills, and interface with real patients in the hospital. These experiences have been both exciting and humbling, and two in …
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