Today I went to Middle of Nowhere, Ireland for a rural lumps and bumps clinic. I really enjoy the outings to the country, hanging around the little hospitals, and seeing the old farmers who drive in on their tractors (true story).
I had the chance to see a nice variety of patients: from swallowing difficulties to sebaceous cysts, urinary retention to infected toe nails. For me the real fun is with …
A Canadian medical student training in Ireland
iPads have been introduced into medical education mostly during the pre-clinical years. I’d like to share my experience using an iPad during my clinical year. I’ve found it to be exceedingly useful and versatile.
I have an entire medical library in my pocket. With the touch of a button I can pull up essential texts such as Harrison’s Principles of Internal Medicine or William’s Endocrinology. I get these books and …
How a medical student uses an iPad for patient care and education
For the last 3 weeks, I’ve been working as a sub-intern on the family practice inpatient service in one of the local hospitals. It’s been quite a time! I’ve sure been kept busy, but learning a lot and seeing a lot. With a moment of downtime, I wanted to share a reflection I had yesterday.
We’re all familiar with the glamorous “saves” in medicine. It’s the car accident victim that undergoes …
I do what I know is harmful for my body
Recently, a friend sent me a text message with a rather conservative back-of-
Here’s the conservative estimate, not including quizzes, workshops, and miscellaneous other goodies: with roughly 100 questions per exam, an average of an exam every 3 weeks, and accounting for a few weeks …
Disease treatment progress will continue to be slow and painful
As you all know, the personal statement is one of the most important components of the medical school application process. It is one of the first opportunities you have to explain to an admissions committee exactly who you are and what you bring to the table. Don’t show up empty handed.
Here are some tips I learned while writing my personal statement.
1. The personal statement on the AMCAS does not have …
Personal statement tips for medical school
I have a confession to make. Lately I’ve been doing some soul-searching regarding the future of my social media presence. It started at a lecture I attended a few weeks ago, where students and residents were cautioned to avoid public social media profiles and blogging. It came up again one morning while I was discussing some current events with other students, and was mentioned most recently at a professionalism …
A social media background is an asset in medicine
In the course of our work as doctors we will undoubtedly witness events that change lives, but coming into medical school I never realized how directly some of these events would change my life.
Often in medicine we see people at the worst possible time. Patients are sick or grieving and rarely happy to be in our presence, no matter how great we might think we are. Usually, they are experiencing …
How social media helped this medical student
There is a lot of speculation about why there are fewer and fewer primary care physicians joining the workforce every year. Some have focused on the choices that medical students are making when choosing residencies. Whether due to laziness, desire to make money or the drive to be perceived as “successful” in choosing a more prestigious specialty, the new generation of physicians are being blamed for not …
Are medical students responsible for the primary care shortage?
I grew up playing a variety of different organized sports. Looking back now, I notice that no matter what the sport my best performances were always on teams which were led by inspiring coaches. The same could be said about my education, with teachers replacing the coaches. Whether I knew it at the time or not, throughout my life I have had a number of mentors who have brought the …
The value of a mentor during medical training
A recent article in the New York Times business section discusses an increase in the number of doctors getting M.B.A.’s in addition to their M.D. degree. In fact, there have even been many new programs that combine getting both of these degrees together. The article emphasizes the importance of seeing that “healing is an art, medicine is a profession and health care is a business.” However, is adding more …
A place for business in medical school
Our first assignment for medical school involved reading and discussing Anne Fadiman’s The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down, which describes how a clash of two cultures (medical and recently immigrated Hmong), miscommunication, and misunderstanding led to tragedy. Poignantly narrated, the book had the take-home message: if a patient does not agree with a physician’s reasoning why a disease developed and how it can be cured, then even the best …
What do you think caused your disease?
I’m a doctor. My mail comes with the Dr. prefix and my checks have Dr. on them. People introduce me as Dr. and when I go to conferences I am Dr. SuFu. However as of a couple months ago I’m no longer a doctor. With the donning of the white coat I paradoxically lost a degree and became a first name or Mr. SuFu. My name badge makes no …
A PhD who’s no longer a doctor in medical school
In an op-ed appearing in the New York Times on May 29th, Drs. Bach and Kocher lay out a plan for making primary care more attractive to medical students. They propose the following: “Under our plan, medical school tuition, which averages $38,000 per year, would be waived. Doctors choosing training in primary care, whether they plan to go on later to specialize or not, would continue to receive the …
Free medical school may not help the future of primary care
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The Atlantic published an article about the growth of quackademic medicine in our teaching institutions and it’s celebratory more than critical. It profiles the integrative medicine clinic of Dr. Brian Berman. That’s right, this Dr. Berman. I blogged about him four years ago and it seems his clinic at the University of Maryland is still going strong. Stronger, apparently.
The article, like integrative medicine itself, is a mixture of quackery …
The growth of integrative medicine in academic institutions
I remember joking with Dad about how he’d outlive us all. He had gone vegetarian 10 years before I was born, never smoked, took vitamins, and asked for a designated driver after his annual Heineken at the neighbor’s Christmas shin-dig. He flossed, wore a seat belt, and looked forward to annual physicals. If I tried leaving our Michigan house in the winter with more than 3 inches of skin exposed, …
Asking patients about their health care financial concerns
Back in 2004, after I was accepted into Stanford University, a friend of mine at the university took me around on a campus tour. He showed me the building he lived in (Donner), his cafeteria (Stern), Hoover Tower, and all the usual sights. When it came time for him to tell me more about his classmates and dorm buddies, he promptly pulled up a webpage on his computer. “You have …
How social media impacted a medical student’s career
A second year medical student reader asked me to comment on what rotations to take in medical school to prepare for an internal medicine or hospitalist medicine career.
I am a second year medical student, very interested it practicing the art of Hospital Medicine, and I was wondering if you had any advice/comments on any specific electives to consider to help prepare me for an Internal Medicine residency.
Great question. As …
How medical students can prepare to be hospitalists
An interview by Curaspan Health Group with Marilyn Gugliucci, PhD.
Every summer, a handful of medical students spends two weeks in a nursing home as a patient. That’s part of what’s been called “the life-altering education” established by Marilyn Gugliucci, Ph.D., the director of geriatrics education and research at the University of New England College of Osteopathic Medicine.
Gugliucci spoke with Curaspan Connections about the inspiration for her unique approach to elder-care …
Medical students spending time in a nursing home as a patient
Let’s face it, medicine is slow to change – the profession has produced successful physicians for centuries using an education system based on grueling hours and unwavering dedication. Many established medical schools boast impressive Step 1 scores and match rates, so why should they modify what works?
Change is necessary because our society needs the next generation of physicians to be technologically savvy and driven toward innovation. With the increasing prevalence …
Why medicine needs new schools to drive innovation and change
In most other professions, once you’re halfway through your education, you begin to develop confidence; slowly, but surely, fitting into shoes that once seemed too big for your petite, newbie feet. Not so in medicine.
Three years into it, and I still feel unsure – unsure of the answer to a rather simple question asked by an attending and unsure of whether I’m fit to be doing this in the first …
Doctors learn through mistakes during medical school
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