As an early third year medical student, I had a few attending physicians tell me that MD stands for “make decisions.” I find myself subject to these sorts of pep talks when I answer their clinical questions with a response influenced by a high pitched vocal inflection that suggests that I’m uncertain.
For example, while being pimped on the next step in managing a patient, I might have responded with a …
As physicians, we are trained to look for change. We look for changes in lab findings and change medications, and we ask our patients, “what has changed since I saw you last?” We are always trying to get our patients to change in one way or another. Doctors are hardwired to seek changes that produce a dopamine release in our brains. We love it when patients see an improvement in …
During my third year of medical school, I would often tell my parents about my days on the clinical wards. As physicians, they were excited that I was following in their footsteps and eager to engage me in conversation about my education as doctor-in-training.
“So,” they would ask, “did you draw the blood for the labs?”
“No, I don’t think I’m allowed to …
Life is full of choices and each choice has the potential to open certain doors and close others. I choose medicine. It is a demanding career, but even as a 7th grader, I knew what I was signing up for.
What I didn’t know was how much this profession could influence the trajectory of my personal life and the types of relationships I’m able to maintain. I grew up genuinely thinking …
I recently read an interesting article in Glamour about why Zosia Mamet, an actress on HBO’s Girls, refuses to “lean in.” While the column focuses on the influence of modern-day feminism on notions of professional success, her words resonated with me as a medical student and an aspiring psychiatrist.
“I have been incredibly blessed with success in my chosen career. I’ve worked my a** off and had the support and encouragement …
Physicians today are challenged with the unique task of navigating the fundamental incompatibility between patient autonomy and the goals of public health. A few months ago, I faced that challenge when my elderly patient declined to receive the recommended influenza vaccine.
“I respect my patients’ right to choose, but sometimes I’m concerned that they make choices based on fiction rather fact,” I reflected in a recent post. “It’s been quite a challenge …
As physicians-in-training, medical students suppress feelings and mask them under the veil of professionalism. Sometimes however, medical training requires us to manufacture emotions. During the third year of medical school, the majority of student grades are derived from the subjective evaluations of the residents and attendings that work with us. To achieve the highest marks, students must appear to be “engaged” and “excited” at all times. While most of us …
During my internal medicine rotation, the medical students had the opportunity to attend intern morning report, an interactive teaching session where attending physicians walk the interns through a patient’s story, starting from the moment they hit the door of the emergency room to the final stages of diagnosis and treatment.
After discussing the patient’s symptoms, complaints and past medical history, the attendings always ask the group to think carefully about the …
I’ve spent the past four weeks learning about primary care on my family medicine rotation. A significant portion of patient care in this setting is focused on health maintenance or disease prevention. Physicians can provide their patients with evidence-based recommendations for various screening tests and vaccinations, but it is ultimately up to the patient to decide what services he or she will receive.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and …
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 …
I started my first blog, Chick Lit MD, in December of 2009. By the time I began filling out my medical school applications I had been actively blogging for approximately 7 months. As someone interested in the intersection between medicine and media, the use of social media was integral to my exploration of both fields. As such, I included my adventures in social media in my application in a tactful …
Applying to medical school is really annoying, expensive, and hard for no reason. I’d like to share some wisdom I picked up along the interview trail.
Become an expert stalker. You have had plenty of practice stalking your friends on Facebook. Use those skills to find out everything you can about the school. Admissions officers tend to ask you why you would like to attend their institution. In order to …
I’ve read a number of recent articles on social media and medical professionalism. The post in the New York Times about physicians and Facebook prompted me to think about my own presence online.
Dr. Ryan Greysen, a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation clinical scholar at Yale School of Medicine, says he is concerned about the professionalism of “the new generation of physicians and …
When applying to medical school, the American Medical College Application Service (AMCAS) asks aspiring physicians if they would like to be considered “disadvantaged” applicants or not.
Many premedical students find themselves troubled by this question and wonder, what does it mean to be disadvantaged? How does being a disadvantaged applicant affect my medical school application? According to the information American Association of …
General medicine is not sexy. Less than a fourth of the doctors in the United States are currently primary care providers like Pediatricians, Ob/Gyns, and Internists. According to a recent study published by the Journal of the American Medical Association, only 2% of medical students intend on pursuing a career in general internal medicine. So when health-care reform becomes a reality, and the 46 million uninsured men, women, and children …
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