Tips to rank your match list. Here’s how this medical student did it.

Education
February 22, 2016

As an early third year medical student, I had a few attending physicians tell me that MD stands for “make decisions.” I find myself subject to these sorts of pep talks when I answer their clinical questions with a response influenced by a high pitched vocal inflection that suggests that I’m uncertain.

For example, while being pimped on the next step in managing a patient, I might have responded with a …

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Tips to rank your match list. Here’s how this medical student did it.

This medical student went to rehab. Here’s what she learned.

Education
January 9, 2016

As physicians, we are trained to look for change. We look for changes in lab findings and change medications, and we ask our patients, “what has changed since I saw you last?” We are always trying to get our patients to change in one way or another. Doctors are hardwired to seek changes that produce a dopamine release in our brains. We love it when patients see an improvement in …

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This medical student went to rehab. Here’s what she learned.

Med students are marginalized in the hospital. It’s time for that to stop.

Education
July 1, 2015

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During my third year of medical school, I would often tell my parents about my days on the clinical wards. As physicians, they were excited that I was following in their footsteps and eager to engage me in conversation about my education as doctor-in-training.

“So,” they would ask, “did you draw the blood for the labs?”

“No, I don’t think I’m allowed to …

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Med students are marginalized in the hospital. It’s time for that to stop.

Serving two masters: Balancing medicine and family

Education
November 9, 2014

Life is full of choices and each choice has the potential to open certain doors and close others. I choose medicine. It is a demanding career, but even as a 7th grader, I knew what I was signing up for.

What I didn’t know was how much this profession could influence the trajectory of my personal life and the types of relationships I’m able to maintain. I grew up genuinely thinking …

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Serving two masters: Balancing medicine and family

Can medical students lean in to psychiatry?

Education
July 26, 2014

I recently read an interesting article in Glamour about why Zosia Mamet, an actress on HBO’s Girls, refuses to “lean in.”  While the column focuses on the influence of modern-day feminism on notions of professional success, her words resonated with me as a medical student and an aspiring psychiatrist.

“I have been incredibly blessed with success in my chosen career. I’ve worked my a** off and had the support and encouragement …

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Can medical students lean in to psychiatry?

Vaccines and public health: Can we have our cake and eat it too?

Conditions
May 8, 2014

Physicians today are challenged with the unique task of navigating the fundamental incompatibility between patient autonomy and the goals of public health. A few months ago, I faced that challenge when my elderly patient declined to receive the recommended influenza vaccine.

“I respect my patients’ right to choose, but sometimes I’m concerned that they make choices based on fiction rather fact,” I reflected in a recent post. “It’s been quite a challenge …

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Vaccines and public health: Can we have our cake and eat it too?

Is authenticity a luxury in medicine?

Education
May 2, 2014

As physicians-in-training, medical students suppress feelings and mask them under the veil of professionalism. Sometimes however, medical training requires us to manufacture emotions. During the third year of medical school, the majority of student grades are derived from the subjective evaluations of the residents and attendings that work with us. To achieve the highest marks, students must appear to be “engaged” and “excited” at all times. While most of us …

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Is authenticity a luxury in medicine?

Shotgun medicine: An arrow is often better

Education
February 5, 2014

During my internal medicine rotation, the medical students had the opportunity to attend intern morning report, an interactive teaching session where attending physicians walk the interns through a patient’s story, starting from the moment they hit the door of the emergency room to the final stages of diagnosis and treatment.

After discussing the patient’s symptoms, complaints and past medical history, the attendings always ask the group to think carefully about the …

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Shotgun medicine: An arrow is often better

Refusing the flu shot: Respecting the patient’s right to choose

Conditions
January 29, 2014

I’ve spent the past four weeks learning about primary care on my family medicine rotation. A significant portion of patient care in this setting is focused on health maintenance or disease prevention. Physicians can provide their patients with evidence-based recommendations for various screening tests and vaccinations, but it is ultimately up to the patient to decide what services he or she will receive.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and …

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Refusing the flu shot: Respecting the patient’s right to choose

Personal statement tips for medical school

Education
October 4, 2011

As you all know, the personal statement is one of the most important components of the medical school application process. It is one of the first opportunities you have to explain to an admissions committee exactly who you are and what you bring to the table. Don’t show up empty handed.

Here are some tips I learned while writing my personal statement.

1. The personal statement on the AMCAS does not have …

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Personal statement tips for medical school

Social media tips for students applying to medical school

Social media
August 29, 2011

I started my first blog, Chick Lit MD, in December of 2009. By the time I began filling out my medical school applications I had been actively blogging for approximately 7 months. As someone interested in the intersection between medicine and media, the use of social media was integral to my exploration of both fields. As such, I included my adventures in social media in my application in a tactful …

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Social media tips for students applying to medical school

7 tips for students applying to medical school

Education
July 18, 2011

Applying to medical school is really annoying, expensive, and hard for no reason. I’d like to share some  wisdom I picked up along the interview trail.

Become an expert stalker. You have had plenty of practice stalking your friends on Facebook. Use those skills to find out everything you can about the school. Admissions officers tend to ask you why you would like to attend their institution. In order to …

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7 tips for students applying to medical school

How tagged Facebook pictures can affect a doctor’s online reputation

Social media
May 6, 2011

I’ve read a number of recent articles on social media and medical professionalism. The post in the New York Times about physicians and Facebook prompted me to think about my own presence online.

Dr. Ryan Greysen, a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation clinical scholar at Yale School of Medicine, says he is concerned about the professionalism of “the new generation of physicians and …

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How tagged Facebook pictures can affect a doctor’s online reputation

Does being a disadvantaged applicant affect my medical school application?

Education
April 19, 2011

When applying to medical school, the American Medical College Application Service (AMCAS) asks aspiring physicians if they would like to be considered “disadvantaged” applicants or not.

Many premedical students find themselves troubled by this question and wonder, what does it mean to be disadvantaged? How does being a disadvantaged applicant affect my medical school application? According to the information American Association of …

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Does being a disadvantaged applicant affect my medical school application?

Primary care needs a face lift, and a better agent

Physician
January 21, 2010

General medicine is not sexy. Less than a fourth of the doctors in the United States are currently primary care providers like Pediatricians, Ob/Gyns, and Internists. According to a recent study published by the Journal of the American Medical Association, only 2% of medical students intend on pursuing a career in general internal medicine. So when health-care reform becomes a reality, and the 46 million uninsured men, women, and children …

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Primary care needs a face lift, and a better agent