Education

Protecting reproductive rights: the importance of abortion training for medical trainees

Education
January 15, 2023

As I was walking between classes as a pre-medical undergraduate student in 2018, I saw that the Student Assembly for Gender Empowerment was distributing hats that read “PROTECT ROE v. WADE.” I picked one up and stepped into my classroom, only to be greeted by a classmate who said, “Protect Roe v. Wade? Why would it need protection?”

Fast-forward four years, I sat in my bedroom, selfishly thankful that I had …

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The uncomfortable truths about comfortable scrubs

Education
January 9, 2023

I love joggers. If I had to pick a piece of clothing to wear every day for the rest of my life, it would be joggers. I wear them constantly — outside the hospital, that is.

These days, this choice makes me an anomaly. Like the ubiquitous clogs in the OR, jogger-style scrubs have taken over hospital floors, replacing classic ill-fitting, hospital-issued scrub sets. This is especially true among young women. …

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Shame as an unethical teaching tool

Education
January 1, 2023

The senior medical student is hours into her on-call shift on her surgical rotation. She’s been up since four, exhausted, and can’t remember if she had eaten anything since breakfast. The staff surgeon on call “pimps” her on surgical anatomy, pointing at the various arteries and veins in the patient lying in front of them on the operating table. The student has difficulty remembering the various arteries and nerves while …

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7 tips to survive night float  

Education
December 31, 2022

My friend texted me the other day that she was thinking of quitting her training program.

Some schedule changes earlier in the year led to her being scheduled for back-to-back month-long night float rotations. She was in the middle of her second straight month of nights and was feeling tired, depressed, and burned out.

Now, this might be a unique situation since night float rotations, on average, are only one to two …

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A medical student’s greatest mistake

Education
December 23, 2022

I made a mistake.

I almost failed out of undergrad as a premed. Yet this wasn’t the greatest mistake, the one that’s only now dawning on me as I stand at a crossroads in considerable decision-making despair.

Growing up in a loving yet highly dysfunctional home, I turned down a full presidential scholarship to attend a highly coveted college to make my parents, who grew up impoverished, proud. Yet the lingering trauma …

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Is it really a woke nightmare for medical schools?

Education
December 13, 2022

Among the many definitions and meanings of the terms “woke” and “wokeism,” the two that capture the ideology best are contrasting meanings. The definitions are:

“The behavior and attitudes of people who are sensitive to social and political injustice” (Collins English Dictionary),

and:

“A system of thought and behavior characterized by intolerance, policing the speech of others and proving one’s own superiority by denouncing others” (Psychology Today).

The first implies a benevolent society that …

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Who gets to succeed in medical school: Improving medical student outcomes that matter

Education
December 9, 2022

As I mentioned in my last article, “Who gets to graduate from medical school,” I find one consistent, uncomfortable truth: Whatever led to the gap in academic performance before medical school is likely to still be present and persistent during one’s medical education journey. The lack of access, inequitable distribution of opportunity, familial responsibilities, socioeconomic disparities, or systemic barriers that kept students from utilizing their full academic potential in …

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From Uber driver to Harvard Medical School

Education
December 2, 2022

“What happens to a dream deferred?
Does it dry up
like a raisin in the sun?

Or fester like a sore—
And then run?
Does it stink like rotten meat?

Or crust and sugar over—
like a syrupy sweet?

Maybe it just sags
like a heavy load.

Or does it explode?”
– “Harlem” by Langston Hughes

“$23.46,” the Walmart cashier distractedly mentioned to me as I got ready for my first ride. I had signed up and passed the background check. My …

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The immediate impact of the transition to a pass/fail Step 1 exam

Education
December 1, 2022

Historically, students’ three-digit scores on the United States Medical Licensing Exam (USMLE) Step 1 were a main factor in determining competitiveness for residency programs. In February 2020, the world of medical education shifted drastically when it was announced that the USMLE Step 1 would transition to a pass/fail scoring system. One of the main factors driving this change was that medical students and residency programs were attributing too much …

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Why every doctor needs a translator

Education
November 25, 2022

Twenty years as a medical malpractice defense attorney has given me a superpower. I’m an extraordinary translator. In the courtroom, we occasionally hire translators to interpret when a witness speaks a language other than English. They help the jury understand the witness and collect the information they need to make a decision. But we need someone able to translate for the jury when a physician starts speaking “medicine.” This also …

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Medical school admissions: wokeism vs. the Bible

Education
November 9, 2022

According to Psychology Today, wokeism is defined as a system of thought and behavior characterized by intolerance, policing the speech of others and proving one’s own superiority by denouncing others.

In a September 2, 2022, article in the New York Post titled, “Top med school putting wokeism ahead of giving America good doctors,” Dr. Stanley Goldfarb and Laura Morgan shed light on recent efforts to allow wokeism to infiltrate the …

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What being a hospice volunteer taught me about health care

Education
November 5, 2022

The finality of death is a powerful teacher. For some patients, being diagnosed with a terminal illness is an experience that lends a tremendous shift in perspective and newfound authenticity. This can be instructive to them and the people around them. As psychologist Charles Garfield says, “The living have much to learn from the dying.”

This applies not only to the experience of a terminal illness but also to its …

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5 things I learned from Nepali health care

Education
October 27, 2022

You must be thinking, what on Earth can the U.S. health care system learn from a poor, developing country like Nepal? Isn’t the U.S. known across the globe for its latest innovation and advanced procedures? Well, I was thinking the same thing. Until my seven-week trip this summer to rural Nepal. As a Nepali-American Emergency Medical Technician-Basic (EMT-B) studying medicine in the U.S., I learned more than I could imagine …

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Let’s meet in child’s pose and welcome the day

Education
October 25, 2022

Anyone who has ever practiced yoga knows what that means. Child’s pose. Kneeling with toes untucked. Upper body hinged over the hips with arms outstretched and forehead resting against the mat. Breathing. In and out. In. And. Out. We are told it’s a recovery position, a safe place.

Whenever we are feeling overwhelmed with another position, or even if the position is not just clicking, we can find rest in something …

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Making it work when you’re married to a medical student

Education
October 23, 2022

My husband’s medical school offered a “key supporters” session during his first-year orientation week. Each student’s family or significant other was invited to attend a two-hour session to learn the schedule of a student doctor and for a panel discussion from current students and their key supporters.

Most people walking out of the room afterward were really nervous. It sounded like students were studying 15 hours a day with no more …

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Families come in various forms

Education
October 8, 2022

I was nervous, but I knew what I needed to do. I reminded myself that I would have regrets if I did not initiate the conversation I envisioned in the proceeding days. After a resident with whom I worked closely on my family medicine rotation gave me feedback on my performance, I asked if it would be OK to give him some feedback. He willingly agreed. After telling him how …

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The desire to be challenged is one of the most important aspects of an effective doctor

Education
September 26, 2022

Bang!

A pulsing pain surged through my head. As I floated in the water of the makeshift pond, it became apparent. I was concussed.

That day, June 16, 2018, is what I consider the most significant day of my life. For a long time, that injury led me to live in constant fear. It was unlike anything that had ever happened to me before. I jumbled my words. My movements were uncoordinated. …

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How to change your specialty during residency

Education
September 22, 2022

There are no clear statistics, polls, or studies to know exactly how many physicians each year, or within their working lifetime, switch specialties. But with physician dissatisfaction scores steadily rising, this is becoming a very common sentiment.

First, I want to normalize and encourage everyone to practice self-compassion during this process.

I personally changed specialties early in my career and have numerous colleagues who also changed. We all profess immense happiness in …

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The most important tool a medical student can have is the ability to reflect on experiences

Education
September 19, 2022

Throughout my life, I have been trained by Jesuit institutions. I have loved all of what they have prescribed – to “find God in all things,” to “care for the entire person,” to “be a woman with and for others.” But the most important pillar that I have gained from these educational institutions is to have a reflective mind – the ability to ask why and dig deeper into a …

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CME Spotlights