Here are the top posts from this past week, based on the number of times they were viewed.

1. The tension between physicians and health policy experts. Health policy experts take subtle jibes against physicians in their analyses, with many feeling American doctors are overpaid, which exacerbates health costs. They tend to be politically progressive, and generally dismiss the issues that most doctors care deeply about.

2. Transitions of a first year medical student. The moment you get accepted to medical school, you never really think about how everything is going to be different.

3. Why pain cannot be a vital sign. There’s been a movement afoot for several years now to quantify pain as the so-called “Fifth Vital Sign.”

4. Getting into residency: What medical students need to know. When medical students are applying for residency positions, what do program directors care about most?

5. When chronic illness strikes: Tips on talking to family and close friends. In the summer of 2001, I was preparing to begin my 19th year on the faculty of U.C. Davis School of Law. Then I got sick with what the doctors thought was an acute viral infection. I have yet to recover.