When I came to medical school, I was certain I wanted to do primary care. Despite the forces that steer many of us off the path – how many times have we heard, “but you’re too smart to do primary care!”? – after three years of medical school, I was still committed to primary care.
But I struggled with which type of program would be best for me. I applied to both …
Why family medicine was the best choice for me
For over a decade, I have advised pre-meds on how to maximize their chances of getting into medical school. During this time, as I witnessed thousands of anxiety-ridden pre-meds wade doggedly through the murky waters of medical school admissions, I have noticed pre-med difficulties often pale in comparison to those of pre-meds parents. It’s often much easier to be the athlete on the field than the coach on the sidelines. …
Practical advice for the parent of a pre-med
Dr. Chris Nickson recently asked, if a Martian landed on Earth and looked at how we do medical education, what would she think?
Could it really be true that so many dedicated, brilliant people with the same objectives could be doing exactly the same thing at the same time without sharing their resources? … That they could put so much work put into teaching sessions that so few actually …
4 ways asynchronous learning can benefit medical students
“I have no idea what to write.”
“I want to stand out.”
“I want to be different.”
“I want to have a theme.”
These are all comments I hear from medical school applicants as they start thinking about what topics to include in their medical school personal statement. I find that applicants often feel pressured to be unique and to write something the medical school admissions officer has never read before. But if you …
Writing your medical school personal statement: Tips and myths
I’m not sure why my parents were surprised when I told them that I was applying to go into family medicine. It seemed like a logical transition after spending six years working in public health and primary care before medical school, but from the perspective of Taiwanese immigrant parents, I couldn’t have made a more absurd career choice. I was confronted with comments such as, “Most people choose careers to make …
Am I smart enough for family medicine?
gunner: a pre-med or medical student who is ambitious to a fault. They often throw other students under the bus, put their accomplishments and grades on display, and generally make life miserable for any student who they perceive to be a threat to their own success. In short, they are what Hermione would be if she was a Slytherin.
On my blog, I am fairly vocal about my disdain for gunners. They …
How to avoid becoming a gunner in medical school
The gall, you might think to yourself as you click on this link in disgust.
Before you write that brutal retort which I may/may not deserve, some simple disclaimers before we tackle this subject:
5 reasons why you shouldn’t go into medical school
Being a single mother in medical school and residency isn’t a piece of cake. But, being a single parent in this world isn’t a piece of cake, either, and being a medical student and / or resident isn’t a piece of cake. Foregoing medical school isn’t necessarily the answer to any of that.
Here is some general advice I will share with parents, single or otherwise, who are facing decisions about …
Advice for parents in medical school or residency
My mom wrote me the following letter during my first semester in medical school. She has been a patient, and a mother/wife/sister/daughter of patients. She has been around countless doctors. Here is her take on what makes a great one.
Dear Son,
I am so very proud that you are becoming a physician and that you chose this profession, not for the prestige or the financial advantages, but because you want to …
From Mom: Here’s what it takes to be a great doctor
“Sometimes, how you feel at the end of an interview can be clinically revealing,” my preceptor says. “How does this patient make you feel?”
***
“Mr. M?” I ask gently, knocking on the hospital room door. “May I come in?”
“Hello? Hello?”
I enter at what I think is an invitation to me, but see that 79-year-old Mr. M is speaking into the phone instead.
“I’m sorry, I can come back…” I start to say. …
Countertransference is a reality that must be grappled with
“You’re not sorry.”
Within two days two different patients said this to me, each with hatred in his voice. Each time I was alone, each time I had known the patient for only a few minutes, and each time the rage was directed at me and only me.
For seven months, I had avoided being the bad guy. When a patient got upset, he accused my superiors, and I hid behind their …
Be the bad guy with good intentions
“I love the hours.”
“I want to be just like Dr. Smith. He has a sweet practice.”“I want to make a ton of money.”
“I want to make a ton of money.”
These are some bad reasons why medical students choose a specialty. Most medical students decide what specialty to pursue when they are in their mid to late 20s. While we all think …
4 bad reasons why medical students choose a specialty
After a week of medical school orientation, followed by two weeks in the classroom studying cellular organelles and biochemical pathways, our class was finally going to start the centuries-old rite of passage that is human gross anatomy. For many students, it will be first time seeing a dead body. The anatomy lab is where future surgeons will make their first cut with a scalpel, without the pressure of life and …
How gross anatomy changes you forever
“Dr. Fisher, can you teach our residents EKG lecture series?”
Naively, I said “Sure!”
What I didn’t realize is how hard this is to do today.
Much of this is not residents’ fault. They only have so many hours in so many days to attend lectures while caring for patients. Thanks to residency work-hour restrictions, those hours have become even fewer. To make matters much worse, through the year residents are torn to …
EKG reading: It’s shocking what medical residents don’t know
Whether you’re starting medical school or beginning your second year, this post is for you. Will probably work just as well for PAs, NPs and any other health professional student who hasn’t started clinical rotations.
Our former babysitter just graduated from medical school and the WhiteCoats are just as proud as her parents are. Then I started thinking, what advice would I give to students starting medical school?
Our first day of …
9 essential tips for new medical students
Across the country, newly minted doctors have started their internships. The first night on call there won’t be an intern – anywhere in the country – who will sleep. Every new intern is absolutely convinced that the beeper is going to go off and they won’t know what to do. (You get over this by about the 2nd or 3rd call night, by the way).
Graduating from medical school …
Tips to be the best intern you can be
One of the most intense moments of my third-year of medical school was during my internal medicine clerkship when a code blue was called.
It was our responsibility as medical students on the inpatient service to report to every code blue while we were on our calls every 4th night. This time was no different, and my call partner and I ran to the code. When we arrived, I recognized the …
The moments that define the job of a physician
“What about combined psychiatry-family medicine-neurology-internal medicine programs? Should I try to do a triple board program in psychiatry-child psychiatry and pediatrics?”
Every April, I field such questions from a slew of rising fourth year students who have become, to their surprise (and sometimes dismay), passionately interested in psychiatry. Psychiatry is a shortage specialty and psychiatric issues rank high among the challenges facing medical care systems here and around the world. For …
Should medical students consider a combined psychiatry residency?
One of the most memorable discussions regarding the cost of care was at 4:45AM during surgical morning rounds.
As usual, the interns would present the overnight events of their patients to the chief resident and a plan for the day would be agreed upon. These morning rounds were particularly intense: in addition to the 30 patients that an intern had to manage solo over night, the brutal hours that the surgical …
Is the daily blood draw in the hospital truly necessary?
“Um—Hi there, I’m a, uh, you know. Medical student. First year. For, you know, the Patient-Doctor—err, Patient-Physician course—”
The nurse smiled and turned to a woman of shorter stature with bony, scrunched- up shoulders. “Mary, do you want this first year to interview you?”
Mary was about to set foot in the lounge when she heard this. She let out a sigh and faced me. Her eyes looked worn; I could tell …
A medical student’s first patient interview
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