Students, educators, and physicians writing on KevinMD about medical school: admissions and what they select for, the cost of tuition and the debt it leaves, the curriculum and what students say it does and does not teach, Step 1 and the test-prep industry, pass/fail, mistreatment and depression in training, the match, Caribbean schools, and what should change. Most contributors are students writing while still in school, many of them anonymously. For what physicians have said about paying off that debt and the money decisions that follow, see Physician personal finance: what physicians say about their own money, in their own words. For a maintained record of what students and physicians have said about medical school on KevinMD since 2004, see Medical school: what students and physicians say, in their own words. For what physicians and deans have said for and against affirmative action and diversity in admissions, see Race and medicine: what physicians say, in their own words. For what international and Caribbean graduates have said about the Match and visas, see Immigration and medicine: what physicians say about immigrant doctors and immigrant patients, in their own words.
Being a medical student during your clinical years imparts a certain feeling of invincibility. For many of us, this is our first-time taking care of patients. Our history-taking and physical exam skills are being honed like superpowers. Our clinical knowledge is growing. We begin to take ownership of patients as our own.
With all but two clinical rotations left in my third year, and at the peak of my own feelings …
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7 reflections on grief and personal loss as told by a medical student
Student G.M is a 228. When she came to our school, she was a 31. When she went to college, she was a 1270.
Now we must make this number a caring, feeling person who has the empathy to impact the lives of patients for decades.
Makes sense, right? Wrong!
I played basketball in college — intramural. I was not bad, but I was not good. I liked to go to the gym …
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Medical students are more than just numbers
If you open Google and do a search for “Caribbean medical schools,” it will quickly become clear to you that not everyone is a fan, but just because something doesn’t work for one person doesn’t necessarily mean it hasn’t worked for hundreds. Established, upper-tier Caribbean medical schools are credible alternatives for hardworking students unable to secure seats at U.S. schools. That’s a provable fact. Thousands of students across multiple Caribbean …
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How can you determine a Caribbean medical school’s quality?
On January 26, 2020, Kobe Bryant passed away. People all across the world have been impacted in different ways. Two weeks have passed, and Kobe is still the main topic of conversation on social media. To each person, Kobe meant something special. To many, Kobe signified strength; to others, courage. People have grown up with Kobe as a household name. People mourn for Kobe as if losing a family member. …
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Kobe Bryant’s memory should serve as a reminder to enjoy life to its fullest
I recently read a medical school commencement, delivered by a physician, that was both inspiring and sadly reminiscent of what physicians should aspire to throughout their careers.
This physician relayed how patients throughout her training and career had provided her with moments of clarity, helping her identify the “why” she chose a career in medicine. She went so far as to describe how a group of patients saved her from choosing …
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Entitlement, arrogance, and isolation in modern-day medical practice
“So, the next step in the history taking process is to define the pain. You start this by asking for site, with questions like, “Where are you experiencing the pain? Can you pinpoint the site or is it more general? Does the pain radiate (spread anywhere)?” And if the pain is on one side of the body, remember to ask about the other side – this is important. Got …
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What makes health care workers superhuman
Corpses.
A sea of corpses.
The smell of death was unmistakable. Its pungent odor snaked around corridors and made its way to the basement, where we stood in line to go up to the anatomy lab for the first time. My heart was racing. All along the walls were jars of human remains—brains, fetuses, organs. As we made our way through the anatomy library and finally came up to the second floor, …
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The physician and the sacred art of medicine
Last week, Lais and Yuri, our five-year-old twins, were volunteers at the school of medicine, for students to learn how to examine children.
Full disclosure: Volunteers do get a gift card. Therefore, I asked them if they wanted to “work and get some money,” and I also told them what they would have to do during that afternoon. They both said yes, and they were truly excited about the opportunity.
When I saw …
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How 5-year-olds brought out the joy of learning in medical students
It has been nearly seven months since I made the decision to take a year off from medical school to pursue a master’s of public health (MPH) degree in Baltimore and nearly eleven months since I last saw a patient. From attending a Public Citizen workshop on access to pharmaceuticals to competing in my first business case competition to meeting several members of Congress to brushing up on my gym …
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What it’s like to take a MPH gap year
It was my first week of internal medicine rotation. A newly-minted third-year, I was rotating on the wards back in the spring, when I met a 90-something-year-old gentleman. He had come in for confusion after a fall.
There were no relatives or friends in the waiting room.
I was assigned to follow him. During his stay, his words were few; it was often difficult to engage him in conversation. Whenever I pre-rounded, …
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Here’s why you should get a chaplain for your patient
With the advent of countless resources and study aids over the years to help medical students prepare for the USMLE Step 1 exam, ranging from the venerable First Aid review book and Anki flashcard decks, to online tools such as UWorld, Pathoma, SketchyMicro, Firecracker, Amboss, and countless more, the entire process of studying for Step 1 has become an arms race. At the same time, Step 1 scores have established …
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The new USMLE Step 1: How your medical school and residency will change
In honor of Black History Month, I wrote this article to say thank you to all the wonderful black doctors breaking boundaries and exploring careers that would have been unattainable to black people in late 1800 and even early 1900 America. To all the black doctors, your representation in medicine matters a lot.
I am a third-year black female medical student, and I recently completed my pediatrics rotation. A few weeks …
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In honor of Black History Month: Thank you to all the doctors breaking boundaries
Growing up in a Korean household meant that I had very little experience with the type of baking that most Americans are used to; My grandma made rice cakes, not birthday cakes.
But during my third year of medical school, an intern recommended a show called The Great British Bake Off. After watching a few episodes and seeing what devoted home bakers could do, I was smitten and resolved to bake a …
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As I become a better baker, I hope that I will continue to become a better doctor
“How did you like it there?” I ask, sitting down next to a new fellow (between bites of a plump sandwich, hoping there is no spinach in my teeth).
I expect to hear the standard resident talking points — long hours, frequent call, and ballooning student loans. Instead, she surprises me.
“Do you know how much they charged us to park there every month?”
I frequently text friends who are residents at her previous program. It is a …
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How minor fixes can help with resident burnout
Wow, you’re in medical school? So you are going to be a doctor? What year are you? When are you going to finish? What are you going to go into?
You should become a skin doctor, what do they call them again? It doesn’t matter, but they do good. But they are not real doctors, so maybe it’s not worth it.
You should become a doctor that gives vaccines. Are vaccines real? …
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The questions people ask medical students
As a rising fourth-year med student, these are my words of wisdom for all students who are on their clinical rotations.
Your mental health is paramount; do not neglect how you are feeling!
There is not one med student that I know of who hasn’t felt anxiety, paranoia, or depression. Some of your peers may even be diagnosed with psychiatric disorders and take medications. And that is OK! As a mentor of …
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A medical student’s advice for clinical rotations
As first-year medical students, we learn that the hallmark of a holistic medical education is an emphasis on the human, personal side of this profession. One way we develop our patient-centered competency is through attending patient panels as part of our curriculum. Here, we learn from people who experience healthcare from the opposite end. From cancer survivors to leaders in healthcare policy, these panels supplement our education by encouraging us …
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The impact of panels early in medical school on informing patient-centered care
“Death comes for all of us. It is our fate as living, breathing, metabolizing organisms. Dealing with the fact of death is unsettling. Yet there is no other way to live.”
– Paul Kalanithi, MD
Recently, first-year students of the medical and physician’s assistant classes completed their seventh and final practical exam in clinical anatomy. Through fifteen weeks, 117 students learned the structures of the human body organized by region, working from …
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Ironically, our first assigned patient encounter as medical students would be a corpse
