Medical school

A medical student with anxiety and depression

Education

July 21, 2011

A strange thing happens on your first day of med school. Yesterday, you may have joked with old friends about upping your Paxil dose, but starting today, you are expected to be professional. And professional is suddenly a word that prevents you from being open with your new friends, a word that hints admitting to any real struggle could be a career-ending mistake.

I want to tell you that it isn’t, but the truth is, I’m …

Reasons why medical students burn out and become depressed

James Haddad

Education

June 27, 2011

As I finished my 24-hour call recently, I was reminded of a 2009 study revealing a decline in empathy as medical students transition from their mostly-didactic second year to third year, which is essentially an apprenticeship in the hospital with lecture as an afterthought. I began my third year with what most would argue is the most difficult rotation, surgery, and my experiences over …

What it means to be sick as a medical student

Jessica Gold

Education

June 8, 2011

For the first time since I have been in medical training, I got sick.

Not just the kind of sick where its a cold, or you know that its stress, but the kind of sick that does not go away and randomly comes up just to make you mad when you just want to have fun (like …

5 easy steps to become a better medical student

Aaron George, DO

Education

June 1, 2011

I recently had quite a long conversation with a college senior that was just accepted into medical school for this coming fall.

As a rising fourth year medical student myself, I would like to think that I have navigated the waters of academia and figured out both efficient paths to success and avoidance of roadblocks and setbacks. …

Practical advice for medical students starting clinical rotations

Mary L. Brandt, MD

Education

June 1, 2011

Here’s some advice to think about before starting clinical rotations during the third year of medical school.

Don’t sit in the back of the plane

The basic sciences are important to learn the vocabulary and grammar of medicine. Clinical rotations are different – it’s where you actually learn to be a physician. If you use the analogy of learning to fly, …

Doing the physical exam for the first time as a medical student

Jessica Gold

Education

May 26, 2011

Armed with tools I have never used or seen before I entered a physical exam practice room for the first day of learning.

Having finished history-taking practices last semester, we were now beginning a new chapter, learning to take a head-to-toe physical exam. Before class began, we were told to read a book and …

The difficult road to becoming a doctor

Kevin

Education

May 20, 2011

On May 15, 2011, 147 students embarked on their careers as doctors as they graduated from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine.

One student, Jenny Rowland, who will pursue a career in Radiology and continue her training at Penn, shared her personal thoughts and emotions as she prepared to graduate.

by Jenny Rowland, MD

I’m not a typical PennMed student.

I’m 31 years old, and I …

Read more…

The difficult road to becoming a doctor

Going through Netter’s to teach medical students pelvic anatomy

Nicholas Fogelson, MD

Education

May 20, 2011

I recently had the opportunity to go to the anatomy lab and help the first years go through the pelvic anatomy. What a blast! There is nothing like dissecting a cadaver to tune up one’s surgical anatomy skills, and helping young eager medical students through it is a great experience.

Prior to going into the lab, I spent many hours going through Netter’s atlas to brush up on the anatomy so …

Why doctors should pursue another degree

Scrub, MD

Education

May 14, 2011

Becoming a doctor is a long and arduous process. Between taking pre-med courses, taking the MCAT, applying to medical schools, matriculating, then taking test after test after test until you take the big one (USMLE Step 1) before which you did questions all day long for weeks from a good USMLE question bank …

Why do people decide to become doctors anyway?

Michelle Au, MD, MPH

Physician

May 1, 2011

shutterstock_103351685
An excerpt from This Won’t Hurt A Bit (and other white lies): My Education in Medicine and Motherhood. Copyright © 2011 by Michelle Au. Published by Grand Central Publishing.

Let’s look at this first purely from the perspective of personal investment and expectation. To practice medicine, …

Does being a disadvantaged applicant affect my medical school application?

Jennifer Adaeze Anyaegbunam

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 …

Think about medical school tuition debt before becoming a doctor

Skeptical Scalpel, MD

Education

April 7, 2011

Recently, I received a call from the son of some old friends. This 30-year-old man has been an elementary schoolteacher for the past few years and recently decided that he would like to go to medical school and eventually become a surgeon. He wanted to know what I thought of the idea.

Suppressing the urge to tell him not to even consider …

Why medical education needs to be more affordable

Edwin Leap, MD

Education

March 29, 2011

I was talking to a young man who is starting medical school this fall. His tuition at one of South Carolina’s newer schools will be $40,000 per year. That’s admittedly on the high end. On the low end, it runs a paltry $33,000 per year.

And this is all after college, of course. He and others like him are taking out loans to the tune of $240,000 to pay for their …

Medical students should not be liable for malpractice

Kevin Pho, MD

KevinMD

February 21, 2011

Should medical students receive immunity from malpractice liability?

That’s an interesting question that’s raised in a bill from Arizona.

According to the Arizona Daily Sun,

State lawmakers are moving to keep patients injured by medical students from being able to sue them.

But proponents said that won’t leave victims without recourse.

SB1429, awaiting full Senate action, would spell out that students are not liable for malpractice if they are under the supervision of a …

Read more…

Medical students should not be liable for malpractice

Social medicine and its role in medical school curriculum

Eric Lu

Education

February 19, 2011

This semester is coming to an end and we are almost halfway done with first year. I say semester, but technically we use the block system. What’s the block system? Here, it refers to dividing the academic school year into single subject blocks. Instead of taking concurrent, year-long courses, we spend several weeks on one course. For instance, we started off with 5 weeks of only biochemistry, then 8 weeks …

How medical students should present patients to their attendings

Vineet Arora, MD

Education

February 17, 2011

I just finished another inpatient service stretch at our community hospital with some great cases and lots of good medicine. While attending rounds may have changed a lot in the last 40 years as highlighted in a recent Annals of Internal Medicine article, some things have not changed – the focus on medical student presentations during attending rounds.

Students spend hours through their call nights preparing for …

Why your doctor’s education is unique

James Haddad

Education

February 14, 2011

What makes your doctor’s education unique from that of other health care providers?

Recently, I was sitting in on a lecture by one of my favorite physician-teachers (certainly my favorite neurologist). I’ll call him Dr. Deeds (for his resemblance to a character from the movie, Mr. Deeds). He was giving a sort of broad, generalized lecture to prepare us for a series of lectures on neurodegenerative diseases …

Read more…

Why your doctor’s education is unique

Pelvic exam by a medical student for the first time

Paul B. Kubin, PA-C

Education

February 10, 2011

They say you never forget your first “real” patient. Mine was a woman who didn’t need a pelvic exam, but who got one anyway.

Next door, minutes later, my second patient provided another personal first: a male genital and rectal exam, also, without need. Medical students like me begin training by practicing the basics on one another–listening to heart sounds, and looking into each other’s ears and eyes—but eventually, every clinician-in-training must lay …

How to check your scientific paper for plagiarism

George Lundberg, MD

Education

February 8, 2011

We were taught in grammar school that plagiarism is wrong. It is stealing someone else’s property.

Imagine in high school asking your mother to buy you “Cliff Notes” so you can copy it word for word. Mother would not have liked that, and it wouldn’t have been right.

To write an essay today, you’ll probably start with a search engine. Instantly, Mr. Google delivers many intelligent commentaries on anything, probably better than …

If you’re in medicine, you’re in politics

Kevin

Education

February 7, 2011

by Nicholas J. Rohrhoff

Each generation of physicians has no choice but to take on the responsibility of learning the science of medicine – how best to care for patients. But current circumstances dictate that we must also bear the burden of developing policy that creates the best system in which to provide that care.

Creation of a 21st century American healthcare system will require engagement and …