Medical school

Use the power of psychology to ace your medical school interview

Education

December 4, 2015

Receiving medical school interview offers simultaneously provides relief, justifies the incredibly hard work you’ve put into your primary and secondary applications, and confirms that you are indeed cut out for medicine.

In other words, you’ve convinced them — at least on paper — that you will succeed in their program and make an excellent doctor.

So why do they even want to interview you?

Consider what schools can only learn about you in …

I got rejected from medical school twice. It was the best thing that happened to me.

Antonio Webb, MD

Education

November 28, 2015

Most people who apply to a graduate school and/or graduate medical programs apply to get accepted the first time of applying. No one wants to have to apply a second time and definitely not a third time. After a second rejection, a lot of people would probably recommended someone picking another field to enter or even giving up altogether. For me, both of my rejections were taken hard and still …

Is it time to take out your skeleton in the closet?

Dr. Henry Woo

Education

October 24, 2015

I have a skeleton in the closet. I really do. It is a human skeleton that I acquired when as a first-year medical student at the University of Sydney in 1981.

Back then, just about every medical student would own a half or full skeleton. They had to be real human bones as the quality of plastic models at that time were as good as useless as they often lacked many …

A medical student’s psychiatric hospitalization

Anonymous

Education

October 19, 2015

“You work here?!”

I nodded, a hint of a smile revealing my bemusement at his incredulity.

“Well … probably not after this.”

The other patients in the psych waiting area of the ER nodded in agreement. In my newly issued brown scrubs, stripped of my belongings, I was no longer a research coordinator at a top hospital, but rather one of them. And sadly, they believed being one of them meant you couldn’t …

How anatomy lab changed this medical student forever

Anonymous

Education

September 13, 2015

I’m supposed to speak at the body donor memorial in September. I told the organizers my speech was written. “Don’t worry,” I assured them. “I have it all in my head, just need to get it down on paper. I’m a writer; it’s my process.” But the truth is that I am struggling with what to say. I’ve tried to write it, but I just end up drinking a pot …

What causes toxic stress in medical school and how to fix it

Vamsi Aribindi, MD

Education

August 20, 2015

For two years, I served as a representative to my medical school’s student affairs committee. My job was to convey medical student concerns and problems. As part of that role, I had a lot of time to think about how and why many medical students experience depression and stress. Two recent articles have led me to write about the issue now: “10 simple solutions to stop medical student suicide,” …

This is why the humanities are important in medicine

Nasir Malim, MD, MPH

Education

August 12, 2015

As a medical student having completed my undergraduate major in the humanities, I often receive the question, “Why did you choose to do that?” The underlying thought behind asking why I would choose a major in the humanities while holding the intention to later attend medical school is that medicine is especially distinct from the humanities (and specifically African-American studies in my case). The sciences are just a whole other …

10 simple solutions to stop medical student suicide

Pamela Wible, MD

Conditions

August 8, 2015

Kevin-Dietl-crop-2

Medical school graduation: Time to celebrate our brand new doctors!

Except for the families who can’t celebrate their child’s graduation. Or their child’s marriage. Or their child’s birthday — ever again.

Like Michele and John Dietl.

They lost their son, Kevin (pictured above), just weeks before graduation. Now they cling to online condolences and family photos. And to the never-ending question: Why?

I’ve become a sideline specialist …

Being an attending means being a teacher. Take that job seriously.

Neil B. Newman

Education

July 30, 2015

“Sometimes a simple, almost insignificant gesture on the part of a teacher can have a profound formative effect on the life of a student.”
– Paulo Freire

Think back to a moment when a teacher or “authority” figure gave you a compliment. We all have them, from kindergarten to high school to college and sometimes graduate school and work. The reason why many of you can recall such moments is that unlike …

Analyzing the deficit of African-Americans in academic medicine

Mary Branch, MD

Education

July 25, 2015

shutterstock_256955077

The number of African-American physicians in academic medicine is dismal, and this leads to an abundance of problems. Academic hospitals (teaching hospitals associated with universities) generally do not have a proportionate representation of underrepresented minority faculty as compared to the surrounding population. According to a U.S. News & World Report article, the number of African-American faculty increased by 0.2 percent in ten …

Asian-American discrimination: Is medical school next?

Vamsi Aribindi, MD

Education

July 19, 2015

shutterstock_282279032

In the news recently has been a complaint filed by over 60 Asian-American groups, alleging discrimination in admissions at Harvard. They point to such statistics as this: in 2009, among accepted applicants to the Ivy League, the average SAT score on a 1600 point scale for Caucasians was 310 points higher than Hispanics …

A neurosurgery case that this medical student won’t forget

Basheer Elsolh

Education

July 10, 2015

After the last elective case of the day, the neurosurgeon I was shadowing told me that he was on overnight call that evening, and that I could stick around to observe more surgeries if I wanted to. “Yes,” I responded. “Absolutely yes.”

My fascination with surgery stems from its ability to provide immediate results to a patient by cutting out, repairing, reshaping, or …

10 thoughts on the transition to a third-year med student

Robert Centor, MD

Education

July 10, 2015

The transition between the basic science years and the clinical years in medical school are jarring, mystifying, exhilarating and thought-provoking. Recently, I did an hour conference with approximately 30 medical students. About half started their clinical year five weeks ago, while the remainder have only three weeks left before they finish the year. They gave me permission to share our discussion. We focused on their (and my) observations about the …

To a patient: Stay strong. Don’t lose hope.

Arzoo Sadiqi

Education

June 11, 2015

I have been exposed to many patient interactions during my first year of medical school. However, my first real patient interaction was when I accompanied my attending to a homeless shelter in downtown Phoenix. I can clearly remember being very excited the day before the visit to the homeless shelter; this was to be the first time I would actually interact with real patients. …

Gross anatomy: What’s a first-year medical student to do?

Daniel Paull, MD

Education

June 6, 2015

An excerpt from So You Got Into Medical School… Now What?: A Guide to Preparing for the Next Four Years.

By far one of the most unique experiences first-year medical students can have is working in the gross anatomy lab. From the potent smell of formaldehyde to the …

Medical student suicide: It’s impact is devastating. This case proves it.

Ajay Koti

Education

June 4, 2015

Kaitlyn Elkins was a medical student at the Wake Forest School of Medicine in North Carolina and a member of the class of 2015. She excelled academically, named the valedictorian of her high school class and graduating summa cum laude from Campbell University. She wrote poetry in her free time. She had a cat, lovingly named Gatito. On April 11, 2013, just …

Want to enhance medical education? Use spaced repetition.

Peter Wei, MD and Alex Chamessian

Education

June 4, 2015

We’ve all heard it said that learning medicine is like drinking from a firehose. Yet many students and schools don’t use one of the most effective study techniques available to them. Spaced repetition is a powerful, evidence-based study technique that can enhance learning and long-term retention of medical knowledge. Medical students and schools could both benefit from understanding and using spaced repetition to produce more knowledgeable and better-informed doctors.

Over a …

The challenge of evidence-based medicine to the new physician

Brian J. Secemsky, MD

Education

May 31, 2015

Evidence-based medicine (EBM) has been classically described as “the conscientious, explicit, and judicious use of current best evidence in making decisions about the care of individual patients.” At first look, this well-accepted approach to clinical medicine appears not only completely reasonable, but also somewhat obvious given the immense amount of research available for academic consumption.

EBM has been repeatedly preached as the gold standard of clinical care across all medical …

A high school physical that shook this student to the core

Will R. Goodrich

Education

May 26, 2015

I didn’t really notice him standing in line. But how could I? Hundreds of kids came through the high school gym yesterday. His turn for the heart and lung portion of the high school sports physical had come. He said he was going to play baseball and basketball. How could he with that arm he carried so carefully? I am not …

Leaving medical school for a startup. And with no regrets.

Gina Siddiqui

Education

May 20, 2015

There he stood at our beach party, the family doctor I grew up admiring. I timidly approached his circle of friends to announce I had gotten into medical school and would start in the fall. He stopped to attention. His friends stood watching. I couldn’t conceal my smile. I thought, “He is going to be so excited for me!”

“Get out now.” …

Medical school

Most Popular

Past Week

Past 6 Months

Recent Posts

Subscribe to KevinMD and never miss a story!

Most Popular

Past Week

Past 6 Months

Recent Posts