Medical School

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.

How to drive doctors to suicide: A step-by-step guide

Lucy Hornstein, MD

Physician

January 16, 2015

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It’s really quite easy to kill a doctor. Here’s a step-by-step process guaranteed to succeed at least 400 times a year:

Start early.

Be sure to denigrate medical students whenever possible. Even if they’ve come to the profession later in life and have accomplished all kinds of amazing things personally and professionally (which don’t count, of course, since those are other professions) they don’t know squat …

Sexism in STEM: Don’t base conclusions on flawed data

Timothy Lahey, MD

Physician

January 16, 2015

Sexism is a major problem in education around sciences, technology and engineering. The first step in addressing this problem is awareness.

A new study suggests many men deny that sexism is a problem in STEM fields. A study in Psychology of Women Quarterly says that that among 423 respondents in an online forum, men were more likely to suggest sexism isn’t a problem even when confronted with evidence it is.

Wow, men are …

What a medical student learned from using a fitness band

Moises Gallegos

Health Technology

January 14, 2015

It was 11:47 p.m. That meant that I had 13 minutes to reach my pre-set goal of “activity” that the fitness tracker on my wrist had been registering throughout the day. If I met the goal, I would get a “trophy” on the accompanying app. I probably looked pretty funny bouncing around my living room doing a squat here and a sit-up there, punching a pretend opponent, and running in …

Publish or perish: It’s survival of the fittest

Jacques Balayla, MD, MPH

Physician

January 10, 2015

Ever since the first invocation of the dogma “publish or perish” in the 1930s, modern medical practice seems to have followed in the ways of Darwinian evolution: It’s survival of the fittest. This doctrine, concise yet striking, refers to the competitive nature of the academic profession in which we have been raised and continue to grow. Although obtaining a medical degree reflects many years of effort, discipline, and camaraderie, …

Why is it so hard to define what professionalism is?

Skeptical Scalpel, MD

Medical Education

January 9, 2015

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 …

Being a medical student is a full-time job

Nathaniel Fleming

Medical Education

January 4, 2015

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In our transition to medical school as first-year medical students, one significant part of our learning has been adopting the dress of the medical profession. Twice a week, in our first-year practice of medicine course, we wear professional attire and don our white coats, the famous symbol of the medical profession. As we learn how to interview and interact with patients, …

Improve the diversity of physician assistants

Richard Bottner, PA-C

Medical Education

December 30, 2014

The issues around race and how it plays out in modern day American society are numerous, deeply personal to many and utterly complex to most. The incidents in Ferguson, Mo., which began in August and erupted late November in nationwide protests, are an example of the many problems with race relations that persist in our country. While I believe we have made significant progress since the civil rights movement began, …

How medical students can change the culture of medicine

Pooja Yerramilli, MD

Medical Education

December 29, 2014

“All of you want to help people and save the world now. But, by the end of medical school, only two of you — if we’re lucky — will remain idealistic.”

Within the first three days of medical school, I had heard three different lecturers tell me that I would lose my compassion and empathy. By the end of the first three weeks, that number had grown to six. During the …

From medical student to patient, in a matter of minutes

Hamsika Chandrasekar

Medical Education

December 26, 2014

As part of the second-year clinical skills course, each member of my class is required to complete two 8-hour emergency department (ED) shifts. I had my first ED shift last week, and when I walked in, I introduced myself as a second-year medical student who needed to practice IV placements, EKGs, and any other procedures that happened to come my way. Three hours later, when I walked out of the …

Shortening medical school: Is that a good idea?

Arshya Vahabzadeh, MD

Medical Education

December 20, 2014

Why are we shortening medical degrees?

The four-year medical degree has been the mainstay of U.S. medical schools for more than a century, following the publication of the Flexner report in 1910. Prior to this, there was little standardization about what a medical degree could or should look like. Medical school education was subsequently standardized to two years of academic study, followed …

When it comes to health care, I finally understand how beautiful banality can be

Sarah Mongiello Bernstein, MD

Medical Education

December 17, 2014

She was absolutely perfect. She had ten perfect fingers and ten perfect toes. Her eyes were wide and curious and drew you in fondly. She was absolutely perfect everywhere — everywhere except for her nose and mouth. She was born in 1959 with a unilateral complete cheiloschisis and palatoschisis, more commonly known as a cleft lip and palate. Where her perfect, beautiful nose should have been was an empty, gaping …

Ethics: The six-letter word of medical practice

Jennifer Chevinsky, MD

Medical Education

December 17, 2014

In just the past six months we, the medical community, have been challenged by questions regarding the torture report, #ICantBreathe and #WhiteCoatsForBlackLives hashtags, Ebola research and treatment, the ALS ice bucket challenge, deaths of Brittany Maynard and Joan Rivers, and the Hobby Lobby case. What these events have in common are not their scientific or molecular underpinnings, but rather their push for us to reflect on the current state of …

She screamed when her boyfriend hugged her. Why?

Natalia Birgisson

Medical Education

December 16, 2014

I was checking my email when it happened. My boyfriend had texted me saying that he was late arriving to the airport. So I stood outside with my suitcase behind me and clicked to an email from my mother.

I didn’t notice until too late that someone had approached me, and I screamed when I saw a black man reach out to …

What I learned from the next generation of doctors

Natasha Deonarain, MD, MBA

Medical Education

December 16, 2014

“So this is Christmas, and what have you done?” John Lennon sang from my nightstand, waking me out of a deep slumber.

Bleary-eyed, I pondered his question: What have I been doing all year?

A decade ago, my conversations with my younger brother, went something like this: “Do anything but medicine for God’s sake, save your soul, man!”

He’s now an emergency room doc. …

Are millennial doctors ready for 21st century medicine?

Davis Liu, MD

Physician

December 14, 2014

Are millennial doctors well trained for the 21st century? That was the question posed in NPR’s Millennial Doctors May Be More Tech-Savvy, But Is That Better? I believe how millennial doctors are educated may make them less adequately prepared than previous generations. This isn’t a reflection of medical education, but of education in general.

Do the technological tools available prevent the engagement needed to …
Read more…

Are millennial doctors ready for 21st century medicine?

Medical students in the couples match: One student’s story

Moises Gallegos

Medical Education

December 11, 2014

I recently wrote about the pressure that comes with the scrutiny of residency applications and the interview process. Adding to this, many applicants apply alongside their significant other, making use of the “couples match” option. Let’s think about that: No longer do you have to stress for yourself, but now you worry for your partner too. And while your primary …

How to choose a good medical school: A look behind the scenes

Richard Gunderman, MD, PhD

Medical Education

December 10, 2014

The competition to get into medical school is fierce. The Association of American Medical Colleges just announced that this year, nearly 50,000 students applied for just over 20,000 positions at the nation’s 141 MD-granting schools — a record. But medical schools do not have a monopoly on selectivity. The average student applies to approximately 15 schools, and many are accepted by more …

Stay human in medicine: Lessons from The House of God

Stephen Bergman, MD

Physician

December 7, 2014

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 …

Learn to use a fax machine, and other medical student tips

Mike Logan

Medical Education

December 6, 2014

Before starting third year, we had a week-long course that taught basic skills not learned in our first two years of medical school: suturing, knot tying, injections, note writing, etc. One critical skill they left out was how to use a fax machine and how to deal with medical record offices.

To outsiders, it probably seems pointless to learn how to operate an archaic communication tool like a fax machine in …

Medical schools fail to teach students about the health care system

Nathan Moore, MD

Health Policy

December 5, 2014

Any health care provider can tell you that clinical knowledge isn’t the only thing that determines how well you care for your patients. We’ve all seen — many times — the patient that can’t afford the correct antibiotic, doesn’t get preauthorization for the necessary CT scan, and can’t find a specialist who will take his or her insurance. Making the correct diagnosis is only the first step in helping a …

Medical School

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