6 actions new medical students should take
Dear Class of 2020,
You’ve worked hard to earn the privilege of becoming a physician. I hope you took some time before starting medical school to enjoy yourself and embrace your passions, be they travel, music or art, or simply spending time with family and friends. Becoming a doctor is a long, bumpy and often lonely road. Resiliency is essential. My first and most important piece of advice is to be sure you retain these other parts of your life that you enjoy so much. If you don’t make the effort, it won’t happen.
Second, take time now to reflect on and celebrate your achievements. You’ve studied hard, scored well...
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - August 15, 2016 Category: Journals (General) Authors: < a href="http://www.kevinmd.com/blog/post-author/robert-pearl" rel="tag" > Robert Pearl, MD < /a > Tags: Education Medical school Source Type: blogs
To my fellow school of medicine graduates: Give it to them straight
I would have graduated from medical school this year. That’s right. Just like you, I’d be getting ready to move to another city and take up residence at an academic medical center to begin my clinical training. Things don’t always work out the way we planned: like Lenny and George in Steinbeck’s, Of Mice and Men. Sometimes, the best-laid plans have a way of going awry no matter how carefully we prepare them.
Cancer. I wasn’t worried. It was just a little mole. Melanoma. Only a few microscopic cells hiding in my lymph nodes. If I was older, I might be concerned. Interferon alpha (a) was the ...
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - May 23, 2016 Category: Journals (General) Authors: Linda Haller Tags: Patient Cancer Source Type: blogs
Why We Stopped Participating In US News’ Medical School Rankings
Every spring, the snows recede, birds migrate north, and U.S. News & World Report releases its annual “Best Graduate Schools” rankings. The issue is a predictable hit with prospective graduate students and anxious parents who want to make sure their child gets into the “right” school. Universities that do well amplify the buzz by boasting of their ranking in ads, articles, and campus banners. The hoopla ensures that the issue is an annual moneymaker for the magazine.
Much of the data U.S. News uses to generate its rankings is provided by the schools themselves. A few months ago, when we received the magazine’...
Source: Health Affairs Blog - April 6, 2016 Category: Health Management Authors: Arthur Kellermann and Charles Rice Tags: Equity and Disparities Featured Health Professionals Quality Graduate medical education Liaison Committee on Medical Education medical school rankings Physicians Uniformed Services University of the Health Services US News & World report Source Type: blogs
These are the 4 words every child needs to hear
As a child and adolescent psychiatrist, I have the privilege of working with many children who are victims of severe abuse, neglect, and trauma. Some, in turn, become perpetrators of violence. One adolescent, let’s call him Steven, told me that he wants to be an electrician, but he is struggling to earn his high school diploma, which he needs in order to enroll in technical school. When I inquired about his struggles, he looked down at his feet and whispered, “I’m not sure I have what it takes. What if I try and can’t do it?” He went on to say, “When I was little my dad used to say that I was good for not...
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - March 6, 2016 Category: Journals (General) Authors: Vanita Braver, MD Tags: Physician Pediatrics Source Type: blogs
A star medical student feels like he made a terrible decision
It is February of our last few months of clinical rotations. I am a rising fourth-year medical student at a well-known East Coast institution with a not-so-bad track record, I guess you could say. I scored in the top percentile for the USMLE Step 1, honored my third-year rotations, and have comments from attendings about how I am destined to succeed in this career. One might think that at this point in my life, I should feel confident, well-accomplished, and hopeful for the future. In the last month, there’s been a lot of talk about residency and deciding on a specialty. To me, this meant finally looking back onto my li...
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - March 3, 2016 Category: Journals (General) Authors: Anonymous Tags: Education Medical school Source Type: blogs
Should he go to medical school?
I received this email last night:
I am 21 and recently graduated with my BS in Computer Science this past May. I took a shining to computing at a young age, never really considering any other field to pursue. I have been working in the field for only 6 months but I don’t know if I feel fulfilled in it. Yes, it may just be this position I am currently in but I am learning about medicine, just in case.
I have been taking some Coursera.org medical courses from Stanford and other great universities online. I find that I am truly enjoying these courses and I may want to pursue this field of study. I don’t seek prest...
Source: DB's Medical Rants - October 29, 2015 Category: Internal Medicine Authors: rcentor Tags: Medical Rants Source Type: blogs
Mitochondrial Catalase Suppresses Cancer Incidence in Mice
Gene therapy to raise levels of the natural antioxidant catalase in mitochondria is one of many methods shown to modestly extend life in mice. Cancer is so very prevalent in mice that it is frequently worth asking whether or not life extension is a matter of slowing aging or a matter of suppressing cancer - though there is certainly a lot of room for argument as to whether or not these are just two ways of stating the same thing, based on the details of the mechanisms involved. See the debate over whether rapamycin slows aging or suppresses cancer, for example. Given all this, the paper linked here is interesting:
The ant...
Source: Fight Aging! - October 2, 2015 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Daily News Source Type: blogs
Want to become a doctor? Don’t be so sure.
Recently, my friend “Tim” told me that he no longer wished to become a doctor. He had already taken the Medical College Admissions Test (MCAT) and all his premedical course requirements. But a summer shadowing physicians whom he described as “always unhappy” convinced him to cut his losses.
“I worked hard the last three years,” he explained to me. “But I don’t want to be miserable forever.”
Medicine is a demanding and often thankless profession. Long and stressful hours, years of training, little sleep, and heavy debt can all take their toll. One survey suggested that 9 out of 10 doctors are un...
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - October 1, 2015 Category: Journals (General) Authors: Christopher Cai Tags: Education Medical school Source Type: blogs
The danger of politically correct medical schools
Ask any premed student what they fear most and the answer will always be the MCAT, or Medical College Admission Test. After 25 years, the MCAT is being revised, becoming longer (by three hours) and covering a broader range of topics than simply chemistry, physics, and biology. One-quarter of the new test covers “psychology, sociology and the biological foundations of behavior.” More specifically, students will be tested on “social inequality, class consciousness, racial and ethnic identity, institutionalized racism and discrimination, and power, privilege and prestige.”
Continue reading ...
Your pa...
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - June 24, 2015 Category: Journals (General) Authors: Brian C. Joondeph, MD Tags: Education Medical school Source Type: blogs
Rooting for humanities majors in medical school
Medical schools traditionally admit pre-med students who are science nerds, and later wonder why their graduates aren’t well-attuned to their patients’ emotions.
The Icahn School of Medicine at Mt. Sinai Hospital in New York City hopes to correct that. It now operates a program, called “Hu-Med,” that admits humanities majors. They’re selected after their sophomore college year, and don’t even need to take the infamous MCAT admissions test. In my mind, this project is more than welcome.
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Your patients are rating you online: How to respond. Manage your online reputati...
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - June 20, 2015 Category: Journals (General) Authors: Jeff Kane, MD Tags: Education Medical school Source Type: blogs
ACP Japan – what I learned about medical education
David Fleming (immediate past-president) and I are currently in Kyoto. Today David speaks at ACP Japan meeting and tomorrow we both speak.
Last night we had a delightful authentic Japanese dinner with key members of the Japan ACP chapter.
We had an excellent conversation about medical education over dinner. One physician had done fellowship in the US and thus could provide a wonderful comparison.
The discussion of medical student preparation was particularly enlightening. In Japan, as in many other countries, students get accepted to medical school directly after high school. He opined that their students get into medi...
Source: DB's Medical Rants - May 29, 2015 Category: Internal Medicine Authors: rcentor Tags: Medical Rants Source Type: blogs
I’m not apologizing for my part-time role in medicine
Over the course of pre-professional and professional education, my colleagues and I have had numerous moments of self-doubt. Would the next organic chemistry exam eliminate my 3.99 GPA? Would the MCAT decide what medical schools would immediately ignore me without ever meeting me? Would the sheer volume of material weed out the persons sitting next to me in medical school or would it weed me out instead? Would being yelled at by surgical residents, OB nurses, OR nurses, heck any nurse, do me in?
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Your patients are rating you online: How to respond. Manage your online reputation: A social media ...
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - March 26, 2015 Category: Journals (General) Authors: Anonymous Tags: Physician Primary care Source Type: blogs
Getting into medical school for the non-traditional student
An excerpt from Getting Into Medical School: A Comprehensive Guide for Non-Traditional Students.
Tranditional vs. non-traditional
Traditional premedical students enter a four-year university directly after high school and begin taking courses for their major while also working on their required pre-med core sciences in order to finish their studies in a timely fashion. Most of these students finish their sciences by their sophomore year in hopes of taking the Medical College Admission Test (MCAT), an exam that is required by all students to enter medical school, by their third or fourth year of their undergraduate educat...
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - October 19, 2014 Category: Journals (General) Authors: Christopher A. Perez Tags: Education Medical school Source Type: blogs
Enhanced Catalase in the Mitochondria Improves Muscle Function in Aging
This study harbors implications for the development of novel therapeutic strategies, including mitochondria-targeted antioxidants for treatment of mitochondrial myopathies and other healthspan-limiting disorders.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1412754111 (Source: Fight Aging!)
Source: Fight Aging! - October 8, 2014 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Daily News Source Type: blogs
I never understood the loss of empathy during medical training. Until now.
Another incredibly powerful post published on KevinMD.com, this from an anonymous medical student. Read it and weep. I did.It was 4:30 a.m., and I was on the side of the road, drenched in sweat and tears. I had finally slowed my breathing to normal. I was going to be late for rounds. No time to obsess over possible questions. No time to memorize lab values, or practice regurgitating them.I thought of home. My family and friend, who I hadn’t seen in months. I cringed when I estimated how long it had been since I called them. And the place itself. The dry, clean heat of the desert. The pump jacks that dotted the landscape....
Source: Dalai's PACS Blog - September 9, 2014 Category: Radiologists Source Type: blogs
