Does medical student debt lead to suicide?
Every year 300 to 400 physicians commit suicide. More than 10 percent of doctors are thought to have depression, a frequent precursor to suicide. Rates of depression and suicide
Medical school
Ranking your residency for the Match: Red flags to watch out for
Physician burnout has been previously described as heartbreaking, and this may be an understatement. The growing complexities of health care delivery, intricacies of documentation practices as required by Meaningful Use, and difficulties inherent to billing and reimbursement are only a few of the issues faced by residents and attending clinicians these days.
Unfortunately, these topics are still not formally taught in American medical schools.
As students, we really do not know …
Lessons from my first nasogastric tube
I was glad she never asked if I had done this before.
My first nasogastric tube was placed on an elderly woman with chronic liver disease. As her illness worsened, it gradually turned her skin yellow, her abdomen swollen, and her mind foggy. One day, we realized that she was at too high a choking risk to swallow her medications herself. She would need a plastic tube to do it for …
Taking care of patients who stop caring about themselves
It’s been a long day, and you just want to decompress. My boyfriend tells me about his day. I get to hear about the insane amount of reading he has to do for graduate school, or about the occasional annoying customer he’s had to deal with at his part-time job as a bank teller. When it’s my turn to decompress, I usually gripe about a patient or two from the …
Reflecting on an orthopedic surgery rotation
“Katie, If you go into surgery, you’re going to miss patients.” It was three in the morning in the ED; the resident was feeling the strain of a 24-hour trauma call, and I was loving it. I had spent the past half hour with a lovely, older woman whose foot had gone through the floor of her vehicle in a crash. We chatted about where she had been traveling, and …
What I learned from medical school scholarship and award recipients
As a faculty member, I’ve encountered many medical students excelling inside and outside of the classroom. Students can be recognized for their contributions through scholarships, awards, and grants. Whenever I can, I try to direct students to these opportunities. It’s been a great joy for me to help students win scholarships, and here’s what I’ve learned from award recipients.
1. Your ability to develop strong relationships with faculty mentors is crucial …
Why is it so hard to define what professionalism is?
A while ago, I wrote about a medical student whose school tried to dismiss him just prior to graduation for unprofessional behavior.
A judge ruled that the school could not do so because it had tolerated some similar behavior earlier in his medical school career and had not considered it important enough to mention in his letters of recommendation.
In that post, I said, “‘Professionalism’ is difficult to define, especially when trying to …
Stay human in medicine: Lessons from The House of God
In 1978, under the pseudonym Samuel Shem, psychiatrist Stephen Bergman published “The House of God,” an iconic novel drawn from his medical internship in Boston in the early 1970s. Earlier this year, Dr. Bergman spoke at the commencement of the New York University School of Medicine. With his permission, the following is adapted from those remarks.
I began writing The House of God as a catharsis, to make sense of what seemed like the worst year of my life.
These are …
$2.6 million: Is the cost of becoming a doctor worth it?
Each year, over 20,000 U.S. students begin medical school. They routinely pay $50,000 or more per year for the privilege, and the average medical student graduates with a debt of over $170,000. That’s a lot of money. But for some who pursue careers in medicine, the financial cost has been considerably greater. Melissa Chen, 35, a final-year radiology resident at the …
Reflections after the first cadaver lab
“To help other people overcome their injuries.”
This mantra was accompanied by flushed faces, hidden trembling hands, and nervous chuckles as the majority of my peers told the class why they decided to pursue physical therapy as a career. Soon thereafter, this adage was lost as we dived into our studies, learning every bone, muscle, and organ. Focusing on the human body is a must for all healthcare professionals, and PTs …
Money has always been and will always be a big part of medicine
Medicine is not about money, except when it is.
When I was in my residency training, pharmaceutical reps still roamed the land. Vast herds of gorgeous young women in tight skirts and stilettos traveled through doctor’s offices, clinics, hospitals and residencies all over creation. Their appearance was always a thing of joy, especially for sleepy, hungry physicians-in-training. Someone would run to the …
Medicine cannot be reduced to just a job. Here’s why.
A few months ago I was paged by a medical student in the emergency room at ten o’clock. I had just changed my clothes, and before my pager went off my attention had been squarely fixed on the newest Jack Reacher novel.
You can usually tell when someone is going to ask you to come into the hospital from home, because there …
To medical students and residents: It really does get better
I recently attended my 10-year medical school reunion class party, and I have to admit, I had a great time. From the beginning, my class was special. We had 104 amazing people who were truly inspired to make a difference.
However, regardless of how talented and hard working you are, medical school is one of the most challenging things you will ever …
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To be or not to be: An artist in medicine
“Why would an artist want to go to medical school?”
It was a good question, and one of my favorite questions asked of me during my medical school interviews. I am what one might define as an artist, and yes, I really wanted to go to medical school. I was a photographer, musician, composer, and actor. I loved the arts and they …
From PA to MD: An appreciation for physician education
My journey in medicine began as a young child: I was the typical kid who knew I wanted to a be a doctor since I was a child and was thrilled when I was accepted into an 8-year college program which culminated in a medical degree. However, by the end of my undergraduate program, medicine was changing: doctors were spending less …
How to give feedback to medical students
My student’s voice trembled as she answered my question. “How do you think you’ve done so far?” I’d asked her. We’d been together on the general medicine inpatient ward for two weeks — the midpoint of the rotation — and as was my usual custom I was giving her feedback on her performance by first asking her to rate her performance …
Vulnerability is a virtue in medicine
Medical students are repeatedly taught the importance of the physician-patient relationship. We are told that to be a good doctor we must strive to exhibit compassion, empathy, respect, professionalism and confidence all while applying our medical knowledge to figure out a diagnosis and treatment plan. If you add in the pressure of doing this within a 15-minute visit, all while answering questions faster than an Internet search, it can get …
Responding to a medical student in pain
This evening, I read a post written by a woman who finds herself feeling alone, depressed, desperate, and afraid of losing herself as she goes through medical school.
This post is my response to that woman.
Dear colleague and friend,
You are not alone.
You are far from home. You are far from your family. You are far from the desert, the open …
Want to become a doctor? 5 criteria you should consider.
While running several times over the past week, I have thought carefully about our profession. I cannot imagine having chosen any other profession than medicine, nor any specialty other than internal medicine.
But that is me, is it you?
A medical tweeter than everyone should follow @medicalaxioms had these tweets recently:
If you become a doctor for wealth or prestige, you are going …
A letter to new medical students
Dear new medical student:
Congratulations! You are about to embark upon an exciting, life-altering experience, one you will never forget. You are about to join an elite group of people who will now be your peers going forward.
You will be continually fascinated, and not a single day will go by from now until you retire that you aren’t challenged by something you have never encountered before. You will be solving problems …
Past Week
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Guilty until proven innocent? My experience with a state medical board.
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Why physician strikes are a form of hospice
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Federal shakeup of vaccine policy and the battle for public trust [PODCAST]
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Past 6 Months
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Why primary care doctors are drowning in debt despite saving lives
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Confessions of a lipidologist in recovery: the infection we’ve ignored for 40 years
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Federal shakeup of vaccine policy and the battle for public trust [PODCAST]
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Doctors reclaiming their humanity in a broken system [PODCAST]
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Past Week
-
How a doctor defied a hurricane to save a life
-
Why primary care needs better dermatology training
-
Guilty until proven innocent? My experience with a state medical board.
-
Why physician strikes are a form of hospice
-
Why medical notes have become billing scripts instead of patient stories
-
Federal shakeup of vaccine policy and the battle for public trust [PODCAST]
-
Past 6 Months
-
Why transgender health care needs urgent reform and inclusive practices
-
COVID-19 was real: a doctor’s frontline account
-
Why primary care doctors are drowning in debt despite saving lives
-
New student loan caps could shut low-income students out of medicine
-
Confessions of a lipidologist in recovery: the infection we’ve ignored for 40 years
-
mRNA post vaccination syndrome: Is it real?
-
Recent Posts
-
Federal shakeup of vaccine policy and the battle for public trust [PODCAST]
-
Why clinicians must lead health care tech innovation
-
The truth about sun exposure: What dermatologists want you to know
-
Learning medicine in the age of AI: Why future doctors need digital fluency
-
How a South Asian nurse challenged stereotypes in health care
-
Doctors reclaiming their humanity in a broken system [PODCAST]
-
