Residency
The surprising power of laughter and creativity in medical training
Teaching is a blast! As an attending, I love to employ offbeat methods, with absurdity and humor, at times skirting the edge of political incorrectness, all for the purpose of enhancing one’s medical education.
Educating medical students and residents by practicing physicians is a tried-and-true element of medical education, a practice dating back through the ages, where those without formal education in the art of teaching provided instruction. This tradition continues …
The cost of exhaustion: Resident fatigue is a public health emergency
In recent years, there has been a significant increase in resident unionization across the country, driven largely by the grueling working conditions many residents face. While the most pressing issues are pay and burnout, one contributing cause is the long hours of training that contribute to resident sleep deprivation – a serious threat to resident health and patient safety. Despite duty hour restrictions imposed by the Accreditation Council for …
How international medical graduates shape U.S. health care [PODCAST]
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Join us for a conversation with George M. Abraham, former president of the American College of Physicians (2021-2022) and a professor of medicine. We’ll explore the vital role of international medical graduates (IMGs) …
From medical student to intern: Embrace your inner artist
“A message to the new generation of interns: you’re not just a doctor—you’re an artist, too.”
It’s the first day of residency. You enter the hospital, trying to recall basic medicine after months away from patient care. Gone are the days of hovering between unpaid trainees and health care providers. Gone are the days when you could deploy the instinctive, age-old adage, “I’m just the medical student.”
During graduation this year, I …
New career paths for resident physicians [PODCAST]
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We dive into the evolving landscape of health care entrepreneurship with our guest, Tod Stillson, a family physician and entrepreneur. Tod shares his journey from traditional employment to establishing his own single-member professional …
The unspoken challenges of being a medical resident’s wife
The journey of a medical resident is often documented, highlighting the grueling hours, intense pressure, and significant responsibilities that come with the role. However, behind the scenes lies another story that is seldom told—the challenges faced by the wives of medical residents. This article delves into the unique struggles of being a medical resident’s wife, particularly in the context of a long-distance relationship.
The overlooked partner
While much attention is given to …
The troubling trend of violating resident physician rights
Resident physicians are vital to the health care system, delivering essential medical services while training to become fully licensed doctors. However, a troubling trend has emerged nationwide, with residency programs and hospitals frequently violating the rights and protections resident physicians are entitled to under employment contracts, state labor laws, and accreditation standards. I personally was forced to deal with these issues, despite having virtually zero knowledge regarding the legal side …
Why we shouldn’t trust sleep-deprived doctors: a wake-up call
I wouldn’t trust my Uber driver to drive me after they’ve been awake for over 24 hours. Why would I trust my doctor?
Since starting medical school and hearing about the dreadful 24-hour shifts, I’ve constantly wondered why they are standard of practice, let alone legally allowed. Why would a hospital want the liability of a sleep-deprived doctor?
I first saw the effects of a 24-hour shift during my general surgery rotation. …
Navigating Match Day emotions [PODCAST]
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Join Amna Shabbir, an internal medicine physician, as we delve into the complex emotions surrounding Match Day outcomes. We explore strategies for navigating feelings of rejection, shame, and disappointment while emphasizing the importance …
Navigating post-match disappointment: What to do if you did not match
Over the last few weeks, I’ve spoken to applicants who did not match in the 2024 NRMP match. They are just a few of the thousands of highly qualified students and physicians who did not match this cycle. This is a wrenching experience, and it can be hard to pick yourself up and move on to the next steps. However, the actions you take over the next few months can …
Supporting medical resident families [PODCAST]
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Join Elizabeth Landry, a certified coach, as we explore practical strategies to support medical resident families during the challenging transition into residency. Discover how spousal support programs, inclusive social gatherings, and mentorship initiatives …
Bridging communication gaps in residency training
Older physicians often bemoan what’s perceived as a decline in professionalism during residency training. Caps on the number of inpatients assigned to an intern or resident. Duty hour limits. Wellness retreats. While these may be imperfect, they’re at least aligned with or heading in the direction of what is the right way to balance the rigors of a lifetime of training in and practicing medicine with the safety, quality, and …
Why South Korean resident physicians are quitting
In February 2024, the resident physicians in South Korea resigned in waves. This was not a strike; striking seemed meaningless, and the residents went right on quitting. This occurred after the Korean government promulgated health care reform plans to tackle major problems brewing under the nation’s universal health insurance system. One of the plans–to increase the medical school quota across the nation by 66 percent …
Confronting the damaging hierarchy in graduate medical education
Although I have a deep respect for everyone who contributes to the education of our next generation of physicians, I also feel that the current hierarchy in graduate medical education is damaging U.S. health care. That is, the best students go to the best residency programs and get the best jobs and subsequently teach the best students, and so on, creating highly respected centers of excellence. That’s wonderful, but how …
Accelerate your career with mentorship
As a lifelong learner who takes pride in self-directed learning, the importance of mentorship has not always been readily obvious to me. When I completed my residency and embarked on a career in academic medicine, little did I realize how important the mentorship of my then department chair, Dr. Janet Townsend, would be in terms of my career progression. In addition to supporting my commitment to staying clinically active while …
What doctors can learn from actors about artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence (AI) promises to revolutionize the practice of medicine by expanding our knowledge and reducing our workload. However, physicians should tread carefully and take heed of the example set by other industries. For example, AI was at the core of the negotiations in the recent 2023 Screen Actors Guild (SAG) and Writers Guild of America (WGA) strike. “AI was a dealbreaker,” said Fran Drescher, a union leader of the …
Medical residency closures: Is nothing sacred anymore?
Closing a residency program can significantly disrupt a physician’s training. In 2019, the closure of Hahnemann University Hospital in Philadelphia forced 570 residents to find new placements. First-year residents discovered a week before they started that the hospital was closing after its owner filed for bankruptcy.
Fast forward to January 2024. Within days, two additional residency training programs in the Philadelphia area announced closures.
Albert Einstein Medical Center said it was ending its …
A call for equity: fair compensation and overtime pay for resident physicians
Amidst significant rises in resident unionization, a policy shift is warranted to guarantee equitable compensation and overtime pay for resident physicians contending with demanding 80-hour workweeks. On October 13, 2023, California Governor Gavin Newsom made history by signing California Senate Bill No. 525 (SB 525) into law. This monumental legislation will increase the minimum wage for California health care employees to $25 per hour. While SB 525 addresses the …
How medicine’s demanding training took my sleep away
I, like many of my peers in medicine, am a terrible sleeper.
And it’s no wonder, after all. I spent the better part of my twenties and thirties training my brain not to give in to sleep when I needed it. Then, in the rare hours I did sleep, I was forced to wake at a moment’s notice and go from deep sleep to high alert. Sometimes, I was asked to …
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Past Week
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You don’t need to be a doctor to save lives and make a difference
-
Heartbreaking stories of famous lives lost to suicide and a community’s fight for awareness
-
How one ER’s choice changed my son’s life forever
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Medicaid in non-expansion states: Explaining the indefensible
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Hero’s journey: Letting go of self-hate and choosing love instead
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Why rapid weight loss drugs may not be the health solution they seem [PODCAST]
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Past 6 Months
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If you are pro-psychiatry, should you be anti-RFK?
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Restoring compassionate pain care: a call to action
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Is the Goldwater Rule hindering us?
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How abortion laws turned our family vacation into a life-or-death dilemma
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Why the RVU system is failing health care and how to fix it
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From handwritten notes to digital solutions: a journey in health IT
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Recent Posts
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Why rapid weight loss drugs may not be the health solution they seem [PODCAST]
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8 important things everyone should know about tongue-ties and lip-ties by a pediatric dentist
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The heartbreaking lesson about life, love, and the “doctor hustle”
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The untold truths behind overdiagnosis and why it matters to your health
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Why rudeness and AI are pushing doctors to rethink their approach
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