“The journey to becoming a physician is generally a linear path. Sure — there are exceptions, but for the most part, you can accurately predict what you will be doing in the future. For example, when you are in high school, the next step is college, then medical school, residency, possibly a fellowship, …
This article is sponsored by Altus Assessments, data insights for health care education.
As diversity, equity, and inclusion (DE&I) initiatives in medical education work towards improving the heterogeneity of learners, the weaknesses of an educational system with uniform instruction will become more apparent. Uniform instruction does not take into account the complex mechanisms underlying each individual’s learning goals or …
The journey to becoming a physician is generally a linear path. Sure — there are exceptions, but for the most part, you can accurately predict what you will be doing in the future. For example, when you are in high school, the next step is college, then medical school, residency, possibly a fellowship, and finally your first job. (That’s approximately 16-18 years of your life!)
But what happens when things don’t …
How many minutes have you given yourself to read this post?
There was a time when none of us could tell time. Imagine not knowing what the ever-moving hands of a clock are trying to reveal. My memories skew, but in that era before I could tell time, all I remember is laughter, effervescence, and the occasional injury. (The first time I hit my “funny bone” was quite the scare!)
Now, we …
Dear resident physicians:
Soon you’ll finish residency, and you may be wondering what’s next. Some of you will start fellowships, but most of you will practice your specialty. You may be looking for opportunities that are a good match with your needs and wants. Virtually all of you are looking forward to greater income. I hope that this ending is also a beginning – a renewal of your commitment to the …
A challenge: Pick a time during residency training where the burden of patient care and education coalesced with scarce family time or social life, and the urge to quit lingered on the back of the tongue. Think about someone you reached out to, whether it be a co-resident, attending, mentor, and think about their response. Was it positive? Or was it something along the lines of: “You’re lucky, I didn’t …
Chiefs, remember, one of those interns is going to fill your shoes in a few years. They may model you in that role, so you want to raise them well! As a former chief resident, I have lots of pearls for those entering residency. However, what I will tell you now is different from what I would have told you then. I have since learned that there are possibilities to …
I had just received a call that I had been accepted to medical school, and I had immediately pulled up a Google search: “best time to have children in medical training?” I was certain that this was not how most people celebrated news of their acceptance to medical school, but this was a priority for me. A quick scan of the results of my Google search was clear, “Don’t do …
July 1 is a day that marks the new era when student truly becomes doctor, where hundreds of residency programs start day one of the three-year or longer residency, a life-changing rite of passage. Where the initial hours start the tens of thousands of hours of experiential full immersion training. Looking back, intern year was one of the hardest years of my training and definitely one of the hardest years …
It’s a well-known fact that medical school has grown increasingly competitive over the past decade. While this is true that getting into medical school has become somewhat harder, what is more concerning is that for many students, admission to, and paying for, medical school does not guarantee a career as a physician. A critical part of becoming a physician is graduate medical education, or residency. It is well-known that there …
Programs and applicants displayed incredible adaptations during the 2020-2021 virtual residency interview season despite the adversity they faced due to COVID-19.
Moving forward, virtual features may be integrated with traditional methods for a more equitable and favorable experience. We present here a discussion on the pros and cons of the 2020-2021 “virtual” residency interview season — and ways of hybridizing virtual and in-person practices that reimagine modern interviewing and improve applicant …
The 2020-2021 GME recruitment season was transformative. While it was full of new and old challenges for stakeholders, the impact of the first-ever entirely virtual recruitment season will be substantial and long-lasting.
Before COVID-19, the long-standing process of in-person interviews was considered “sacred” by many. But this system was simply not possible during a global pandemic. In the transition to virtual interviews, applicants saved significant time and expense but the canceling …
The 2021 residency match “capstoned” the inaugural virtual interview season. Interviews may likely continue to incorporate some virtual aspects given the realized efficiencies. But these efficiencies come at a cost: limiting the applicant’s ability to get a feel of the programs and adding virtual fatigue to the inevitable stress of interviews.
As two medical students who participated in this most recent interview season, here are a few best practices we encountered …
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I certified my rank order list (ROL), but …
What if I messed up?
What if I don’t match?
What if my list doesn’t get processed?
What if I should have ranked programs in a different order?
What if, what if, what if …
These thoughts, and their associated feelings, are 100 percent normal. Please re-read that last sentence.
You are no longer in control of one of the biggest decisions of your life and your human …
Over 100,000 medical and surgical resident physicians and fellows (combined, “house staff”) are the first-line physicians for most patients in the nation’s 1,100+ teaching hospitals. Maximum weekly work hours regulated by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) are colloquially cited to be 80 per week. Notably, however, they are 80 hours averaged over 4 weeks (88 with “sound educational rationale”), without maximum weekly hour …
For applicants seeking to match into a competitive specialty, it can be challenging. In fact, it’s not uncommon for programs to receive over 100 applications for a single residency position. To sort through that many applications, many programs use filters. One type of filter is a USMLE “cut-off” score: applicants who don’t score above a certain minimum won’t be considered further.
That’s why, for applicants with lower-than-average USMLE scores, my advice …
For students studying at Caribbean medical schools, success in the residency match is a major concern. And it should be, because Caribbean medical students have unique challenges. At the same time, strategizing early in your medical school career can significantly impact your ultimate success.
Here are five rules that are critical in residency match success:
1. Yes, your exam score matters. The reality of the current day residency match is that programs …
The transition from resident to doctor is overwhelming and can impact your personal life deeply, particularly within the context of your relationship. It is important to sit down and discuss with your partner or spouse and discuss your excitement and fear during this odd phase of life. Although the transition can make or break a relationship, if both you and your partner put forth the effort, you will surely be …
For a bunch of folks striving to stomp out malignant processes in our patients, we sure tolerate a fair amount of destructive behavior among training programs.
I’ll be the first to say I’m not the most delicate flower in the garden. Before pursuing medicine, I was a college athlete. I’m no stranger to long hours, harsh coaches, or repeated failures.
Medical students get their first bitter taste of malignant …
I’ve done a lot of interviews on my road to becoming a cardiology fellow. Here are a few topics that people don’t talk about enough.
Speed dating
I think of interviews like speed dating. Everyone puts on their “first date.” Everyone behaves their best; therefore, you can’t trust everything people say. Your job is to really listen to what people are saying, how they’re saying it, when they pause, when they fish …
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