Heather Alva
Heather Alva is a medical student.
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Latest articles
Medical education
It is the fourth year of medical school, and I have been dreaming in the language of ERAS (electronic residency application service). In less than one month, I will put my name into the sorting hat of applications as part…
It is the fourth year of medical school, and I have been dreaming in the language of ERAS (electronic residency application service). In less than one month, I will put my name into the sorting hat of applications as part of the match’s algorithm to interview, and hopefully I’ll be matched to a pediatric residency position.
Based on 2014 program director survey data published by the National Residency Matching Program (NRMP) …
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When applying for residency, should medical students be quantified?
Physician voices
Somewhere along the way I learned to believe that if a declaration is written down on physical paper and signed, it carries with it an almost magical certainty of follow-through: it can be framed, cited, stored in a safe, and,…
Somewhere along the way I learned to believe that if a declaration is written down on physical paper and signed, it carries with it an almost magical certainty of follow-through: it can be framed, cited, stored in a safe, and, if need be, brandished in a court of law. This is an interesting idea in the realm of advance directives.
Well-intentioned advance directives
The goal of an advance directive is to protect …
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POLST and well-intentioned advance directives
Medical education
My first experience administering injections involved sitting in an ICU room, ten years old, drinking bitter diet Shasta colas and watching thrillers from the 90s starring Sandra Bullock. The nurses started me on oranges. Easy as pie -- I could…
My first experience administering injections involved sitting in an ICU room, ten years old, drinking bitter diet Shasta colas and watching thrillers from the 90s starring Sandra Bullock. The nurses started me on oranges. Easy as pie — I could stab away, practicing insulin injections with saline and fruit. The oranges practically squealed with delight upon puncture, rewarding me with the scent of citrus and a plume of juice — …
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My first experience administering injections
Medical education
At the outset of this process of becoming a doctor, a friend and mentor of mine, a professor emeritus of medicine known as a mentor who cares deeply about his students and for his New England style dinner parties, sat…
At the outset of this process of becoming a doctor, a friend and mentor of mine, a professor emeritus of medicine known as a mentor who cares deeply about his students and for his New England style dinner parties, sat me down to explain the gist of medical school.
The first two years, he explained — bowtie notwithstanding — are the equivalent of studying a language from textbooks. You must first …
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Learning the language of Patient and Doctor
Medical education
Background Under the 1997 Death with Dignity Act, Oregon was the first of the now-handful of states to allow physicians to write a prescription that, when filled and administered, would cause intentional death. Let me be clear: Death with dignity…
Background
Under the 1997 Death with Dignity Act, Oregon was the first of the now-handful of states to allow physicians to write a prescription that, when filled and administered, would cause intentional death.
Let me be clear: Death with dignity is not offered to Oregonians en masse or even on a whim. To legally qualify, a patient must be 18 years or older, a resident of Oregon, capable of making and communicating …
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Death with dignity: Perspectives from a medical student
Physician voices
A resident once offered me this piece of advice: Find mentors whom you admire. Not just for their rapport with patients, but also for their lifestyle, their hours and their family life. Make goals that you know to be realistic…
A resident once offered me this piece of advice: Find mentors whom you admire. Not just for their rapport with patients, but also for their lifestyle, their hours and their family life. Make goals that you know to be realistic because someone has already accomplished them.
My question now: Why stop there? Why not share that ounce of brilliant advice with our patients? Why don’t we link older, successful patients with diabetes …
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