I can remember making rounds with a seasoned surgical attending in medical school. In typical fashion, surgical rounds were a lot like the military. The “General” (attending physician) at the front, always commanding respect (and often fear) followed by the chief resident, junior residents, interns and finally medical students. Cases were presented, statuses were updated and plans were formulated. Then came the barrage of medical fact questions–mostly directed at the …
Columbus gets the credit, but in 240 BC, Eratosthenes of Cyrene discovered that the earth was round. In 1990, the Hubbell telescope proved that the universe is expanding. In the 21st century we know that the world is round but with the Internet and smart phones, it feels small and flat. With ease of travel and technology, all aspects of modern life have changed, including medical science, practice, and education.
The dictionary defines humanism as “a system of thought that centers on humans and their values, capacities, and worth.” No sector of the economy comprehends this definition better than a small business. In a sea of competition, the small business whose primary focus strays from its customer’s best interests will surely sink. Those with business experience will undoubtedly attest that, whether in a hair salon or restaurant, a happy customer …
What can Tiger Woods teach us about pre-med competition and the medical school gunner mentality? A lot.
I was recently watching Tiger’s latest win, his 76th win on the PGA. Tiger was dominating the competition, not unlike your classmate in your organic chemistry or biochemistry class that just crushes every test and sets the curve for everybody else.
At a time when one in three Americans report difficulty paying medical bills, up to $750 billion is being spent on care that does not help patients become healthier. Although physicians are routinely required to manage expensive resources, traditional medical training offers few opportunities to learn how to deliver the highest quality care at the lowest possible cost. While the gap is glaring the problem is not new.
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 …
When we told the patient and his family that the mass in his lung was highly concerning for cancer, he didn’t say anything. His daughter asked about his symptoms. His son-in-law asked when and how he could get a definitive diagnosis. His wife asked when he could go home. Finally, he spoke.
“I’m sorry for being so much trouble.” The tone was casually apologetic, …
As healthcare providers we are focused on life. We are committed to healing. We measure success by lives saved. Unfortunately, many diseases remain incurable. Some diagnoses do carry with them a death sentence in spite of the best that modern medicine has to offer. Even in theses extremely devastating cases, We can still make a huge difference in the lives of our patients in the way in which we help …
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 …
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 …
A letter from a medical student at the end of her gross anatomy course.
Dearest Walter,
The time we’ve spent together over the past few months has been wonderful, but I’m afraid it must come to an end. We knew this day would come. I must move on with my life, and you must move on, too. We will never see each other again, but I will never forget you. You have …
Institutional leaders in academic medicine are frustrated by what they perceive to be a short list of limited assets that can be used to guide or encourage individual and group behavior: faculty rank and/or institutional titles, compensation and budgetary authority, and space.
Even though the organization’s work takes place at the bottom, done largely by self-directed professionals, an academic medical center’s professional intellect is rarely recognized as an asset, let alone …
In the satirical novel The House of God, author Samuel Shem writes about experiences as a medical student at Harvard. In the novel, many famous quotations are used that have been passed on from generation after generation of medical students and residents. Some slang terminology is also referenced and characters are created to illustrate the qualities of certain types of students.
One particular student that is found in every medical school …
After graduating from college I had the opportunity to spend two years working at the Institute of Medicine on a variety of health care improvement topics. When it came time to apply to medical school I noticed an odd dissonance—the challenges I had been grappling with at the IOM were not manifest in most medical school curricula. I knew that multidisciplinary teams …
Even as social media use among physicians gains popularity, I continue to hear doubts echoing from my fellow medical students, residents, and attendings, particularly about the use of Twitter.
Many of them ask how using Twitter has benefited me, and my answer almost always makes them stop and think.
My life has been enriched by the network of intelligent and forward-thinking people I have connected with …
Prior to entering the medical field, my preconceived notion of what makes a good doctor essentially compromised of compassion, intelligence, and the ability to think fast on ones feet. Although I continue to believe that these professional qualities are paramount to excellent patient care, I am finding that other, less obvious proficiencies are also required. Ironically, these skills that I have in …
As a medical student, I am in direct contact with the past, present and future of science. Sometimes, for instance, I read books concerning the history of medicine that bring me back to how diseases were diagnosed and treated a hundred years ago. Bloodlettings, leeches, herbs, and venoms.
It’s amazing to see how medical science has progressed since then. It’s only been a hundred years. We have gone from the discovery …
After a long day on the internal medicine ward at St. Elizabeth’s Medical Center, I rushed across town to lead that evening’s two-hour group diabetes visit at Union Square Family Health Center in Somerville, MA. So when my preceptor asked me if I’d lead the group on a field trip after the two-hour visit, it was the last thing I wanted to do.
Although we had discussed taking our Brazilian patients …
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 …
By the time I met her, Ms. Jacob had been in the hospital for 202 days, 15 hours, and 38 minutes. 39 minutes. 40 minutes.
Starting work on a floor that prided itself on delivering comprehensive, efficient care, I studied the computer monitor describing patient lengths of stay, wondering why this woman had been here 25 times longer than the average patient – …
