All Episodes - AMSA ad lib
AMSA ad lib is the American Medical Student Association's podcast, bringing together the intimate perspectives of medical students and experts on topics ranging from specialty selection and personal finance to technological developments in medicine's near future.
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78. How to strengthen your resilience, get ready for residency
Medical training and practice will be hard on you, and on your peers. Surviving the stress takes preparation and awareness. We'll hear how one medical student used self-care to prepare for her transition to medical school, and AMSA's Rebekah Apple explains the importance of resilience and some steps for building it up.
45. Fighting bias with storytelling
Biases in medical training are affecting medical students, but many--including you--may not appreciate that it’s happening. Fixing the problem won’t be easy, but some trainees themselves are working to address pervasive bias in medicine from the ground up. For the students trying to intervene, the first step in addressing bias in medical training is getting everyone to recognize how deeply--and sometimes subtly--ingrained it can be. Medical students Tehreem Rehman and Jes Minor started the Systemic Disease project. Among other goals, the project aims to gather stories from those exposed to or victimized by bias in medicine to start a conversation and increase awareness. To learn more about the Systemic Disease project, visit their website at http://www.systemicdisease.com or follow @systemicdisease on Twitter. You can also find Tehreem (@tehreemrehman) and Jes (@jes_minor) on Twitter as well.
69. What to do when medicine falls short
As a physician, you won’t be able to solve all of your patients’ problems. Some of those problems, especially systemic ones, will remain just out of a doctor’s reach. In this episode, we learn how to extend that reach. When it seems like medicine isn’t enough, that caring for patients goes beyond the scope of your abilities as solitary provider, or that the problems facing your patients are deeper and more entrenched than medicine can possibly address, those thoughts can be demoralizing. It may even make you question medicine as a career choice. But you aren’t the first to come to that realization, and today we have some concrete advice for you from Dr. Leana Wen, commissioner of health for the city of Baltimore.
50. Shots fired: Rehearsing for disaster
It no longer seems impossible, or even unlikely: What happens if your medical center itself comes under attack? Have you thought about your role? What would you do? What should you do? Would you have time in the moment itself to weigh ethical considerations, personal safety and protocol? Probably not. In this episode, we get an inside look at a training exercise preparing health care providers for an attack on their own institution, and learn about the bioethics of just such a situation.
22. Don't put my pants in the dryer
Have you ever advised a patient to eat healthy and exercise, then hit up the McDonald's drive-through on the way home from work? Maybe it’s time for a wake-up call. Hear from one student who had a wake-up call while driving down the highway with a cup of curly fries, and how she made a fitting realization that would improve her life as a med student and she hopes will improve her relationships with patients.
54. Beyond soundbites and snack tips: Today's patient and health literacy
Are you being taught how to help patients understand all of the overwhelming medical messaging they’re getting? Though the way that medical students are taught has changed gradually over the past century, the way patients learn has lurched forward. Arguably, the modern physician’s job has changed accordingly. The question is whether the physician will be ready for that job. Dr. Rishi Desai found himself on the leading edge of creating useful health information for patients and future physicians alike. Today, he’s the chief medical officer of Osmosis, a learning platform for medical students, where he is one of the people outside traditional medical education helping to shape the way medical students actually learn.
60. Present your research right
You’ve spent months on a complex research project, from conception to designing your study, to collecting data and coming to your conclusions. It’s all enormously complicated—now, explain the whole thing in 60 seconds. In the 2016 Match, fourth-year M.D. match applicants in the U.S. listed 4.7 presentations, abstracts or publications in their professional profile on average. Though the importance of those experiences may vary by specialty or even residency program, the ability to boil your project down to a quick explanation tailored to your audience is critical.
85. Behind the scenes with OnlineMedEd
Med students get pretty serious about the resources they use to study. What goes into making some of these tools? In this episode, med student Sarah Smith spoke with the founders of OnlineMedEd, Dr. Dustyn Williams and Jamie Fitch, about the videos and other resources they put together to help medical students.
58. The stigma and paradox of family medicine and primary care
What have you heard about primary care? That there's "too much paperwork?" Or that you're "too smart" to go into it? Or, paradoxically, that "there's too much to learn"? In the spirit of National Primary Care Week, let's talk about the so-called stigma of primary care, and its effect on med students' career choices. Dr. Wanda Filer, a former president of the American Academy of Family Physicians, addresses the "stigma" head on--and touches on the joy a family physician can find in life-long care of patients.
48. Story Slam: Reaching med school at 60
Even as the definition of a “nontraditional” med student has shifted, there are outliers. Elaine Luther is one such outlier. But medical school isn't just about the medical career that follows. It is itself an accomplishment—and a statement. Here's Elaine's story about what stood in her way, and the night that refocused her on a dream she'd been denied.
20. Residency interview questions and prep
What's it like to interview for a residency position in neurosurgery? How does it compare to interviewing in other specialties? In this episode, medical students share their experiences and questions, including tackling rumors about the neurosurgery interview process.
77. What you should talk about in your personal statement
Leaving your personal statement to the last minute will lead to a frantic search for the right topic and in turn, not your best work. Many of the timelines you’ll see out there place preparing for your residency application in your third year of medical school. But waiting to think about starting on your application materials until then, could mean you’re missing out on getting the most out of a meaningful experience that took place in your earlier years.
84. The experience of disaster and response
A week and a half ago, Hurricane Harvey struck coastal Texas. Even now, Hurricane Irma is slamming into Caribbean islands and will soon approach the Southeastern United States. T.J. La, student editor of The New Physician magazine, grew up in Houston and experienced Harvey both as a resident of the city and as a future physician.
38. Leadership is learned. Here's how
Learn how to be a effective leader. We've all heard that leaders aren't born, they are made. But who "makes" them, and how? In this episode, Drs. Deborah Hall and Suzanne Rose explore the importance of medical leadership, starting in medical school, and how med students can improve their leadership skills.
59. Keeping residency interview travel costs down
You’re unlikely to attend only one residency interview, and even then, it’s doubtful that it’d be right in your backyard. Traveling for residency interviews adds to the list of those hidden costs around the corner in med school, and sometimes the best way to prepare yourself is by hearing from those who did it before you.
83. Interview questions asked: A residency program director answers
Why do program directors ask the questions they ask during the residency interview? What are they looking for in your response, and how do they evaluate the success of your answer? We turned the tables on Dr. Tom Kuivila, Residency Program Director in Orthopaedic Surgery at Cleveland Clinic, to learn why program directors ask the questions they ask, what kinds of answers they're looking for, and how to give the right responses during the interview process. Hear how he would answer both simple and tough questions in a residency interview.
57. Make the most of "social" interviews on the residency trail
Some residency programs host a social event for you to meet current residents and interns from the program before the formal interview takes place. A former program director and recent residency applicant explain what you should be looking for out of this experience, how you can use it to your advantage, and how important this interaction really is to residency programs during their selection process.
82. Dr. Kevin Pho on social media, medicine and future physicians
How can you establish and manage your online presence as a future physician? And better yet, why is that important to your future practice? We caught up with Dr. Kevin Pho, founder and editor of KevinMD.com, and a leading physician on social media.
81. Residency work hour limits: How to deal with the increase
The ACGME voted this year to change the rules on work hour restrictions, allowing interns to work up to 24 hour shifts with an additional four hours of transitions in care--an increase from the 16 hour shift restriction that was previously in place. How can you stay resilient going into your intern year with this change?
80. Don't make these mistakes in your med school interview
Your prerequisites, GPA, MCAT prep and essay answers have gotten you this far. Now it’s time to ace the med school interview. Setting your nerves aside and facing a med school interviewer--does it really all come down to this moment? How do you get ready? What should you do once you are there, on campus? What should you not do? We spoke with two experienced interviewers and experts about common mistakes they’ve seen made, how to avoid them, and what medical schools want to find out about applicants during the interview day itself.
51. Make your international experience count
You’ve completed an international elective or global health experience; so, what’s next? Explore how you can maximize the value of that experience and what next steps you should be taking upon your return with Dr. Joseph C. Kolars, Senior Associate Dean for Education and Global Initiatives at the University of Michigan Medical School.
79. The gateway to med school: anatomy lab
It’s a ritual so common among medical students that it would be cliche--if it weren’t so solemn. For some medical students, the experience of anatomy lab--when the medical student first pulls back the shroud on a body donated for study--marks the boundary that separates physicians from lay persons. For some medical students, it’s their first tactile exposure to the magical inner workings of the human body. For some, it’s a first shared team experience, working together with colleagues just met. Though much of the experience of anatomy lab is relatively similar across medical schools, for each individual, that first moment is a unique one.
66. Five things no one ever tells you about med school
You’ll hear about the classes, the professors. You’ll hear horror stories about particular rotations. Friends and other med students will tell you all about exams. But when it comes to looking at the big picture of being a med student, they may be leaving out the social and emotional sides. Here are five true things no one will tell you about medical school.
78. How to strengthen your resilience, get ready for residency
Medical training and practice will be hard on you, and on your peers. Surviving the stress takes preparation and awareness. We'll hear how one medical student used self-care to prepare for her transition to medical school, and AMSA's Rebekah Apple explains the importance of resilience and some steps for building it up.
77. "What do I talk about in my personal statement?" answered
Leaving your personal statement to the last minute will lead to a frantic search for the right topic and in turn, not your best work. Many of the timelines you’ll see out there place preparing for your residency application in your third year of medical school. But waiting to think about starting on your application materials until then, could mean you’re missing out on getting the most out of a meaningful experience that took place in your earlier years. Corbb O’Connor, one of AMSA’s Applied Match Preparation, or AMP, program coaches shares how to get started early to craft an impactful application.
76. 5 pitfalls of the personal statement: Don't be the PB&J
Boiling yourself down to one page may seem impossible, or maybe even a little depressing. It doesn’t have to be that way--in fact, it shouldn’t be that way. The personal statement is a chance to connect all of the dots. It’s an opportunity to explain your interest in medicine--and your value to it--better than a Step 1 score. Medical schools typically offer some guidance on developing your personal statement, at least in the form of a few examples or templates. As much as you like, though, it doesn’t really boil down to a step-by-step, paint-by-numbers guide. Dr. Daniel Gouger says your personal statement is the product of your unique experiences and what you’ve internalized from those experiences. To that end, we won’t tell you what to do in your personal statement. But here are some don’ts.
75. Golden tickets, toxic egos, and med student drug use
Medical school is traumatic at nearly every stage of training. The resulting wear and tear on medical students has lasting, detrimental effects. One of those is substance abuse. Does it have to be this way? What are the factors that contribute to substance abuse among medical students? From ineffective feedback to the stress of the residency Sorting Hat to the toxic, corrosive nature of the physician ego, Dr. Daniel Gouger--AMSA’s Education and Advocacy Fellow--walked ad lib’s Pete Thomson through some underlying causes.
74. Full ride to med school? Inside Uniformed Services
Medical school comes at a high cost; are you ready to take on thousands debt? Maybe you don’t have to. In fact, you could leave with none at all. Joining the armed forces is one way to have your medical school paid for in its entirety, but what’s the trade-off? AMSA ad lib sat down with Aaron Saguil, MD, FAAFP, LTC (P), USA, MC. Dr. Saguil serves as the Associate Dean for Recruitment and Admissions at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences F. Edward Hébert School of Medicine—America’s Medical School—in Bethesda, Maryland, and shares the pros, cons, and why it may or may not be the right fit for you.
73. Taking on curriculum reform at your med school
Medical students at the Yale School of Medicine have recognized the need for understanding sociology and health justice as an important part in the development of physician professional identity, as well as how these principles underscore the social determinants of health that impact patient care. The group, in part led by Robert Rock, Yale School of Medicine class of 2017, engaged in a curricular reform project within their institution. Their commitment progressed from what began as a student lead health justice elective course to a comprehensive health justice curriculum for their medical school that's further supported by an interprofessional student group for health justice. Dr. Daniel Gouger, AMSA's 2017-2018 Education & Advocacy Fellow, spoke with Robert Rock on ways you can implement changes in your med school too.
72. Get yourself ready for ERAS
For rising fourth-year medical students, the whirlwind of the residency application and matching process is about to kick off. It's time to get those ducks in a row. Your career is about to get real. And one of the first formal steps is getting all of your application materials into the MyERAS system. For those not yet familiar with it, the Electronic Residency Application Service, or ERAS, is the system most U.S. residency programs use for a centralized application system. It includes tools for letters of recommendation, filtering programs to apply to, responding to messages from programs, and even scheduling interviews when the time for that comes. MyERAS is the portal that applicants themselves use for their information and materials. And June 6 is when it opens for residency applicants aiming for the 2018 Match.
30. Stand out to a med school admissions committee
Med school admissions isn't just about GPA and MCAT scores anymore. Applicants have to explain how medicine is a good fit for them, and vice versa. But how do they convey that in their application and to a medical school admissions committee? We talk to admissions expert Dr. Gary Rose.
9. Advice from Dr. Vivek Murthy
Last Friday, Dr. Vivek Murthy was abruptly replaced in his position as the U.S. surgeon general. In this episode, we look back at the inspiring words of one of the youngest surgeons general. As the 19th Surgeon General of the United States, Dr. Murthy worked to educate the general public about their own health. But drawing on his own background and lessons from his personal journey, he offered sage advice at AMSA’s 2015 convention to medical students about overcoming challenges they’ll face in training, the value of their youth and enthusiasm, and the importance of taking risks.
71. Get out in front of a public health crisis
Don’t think you’ll be affected by addiction? If you’ve spent any time on the wards, you’ve almost certainly heard disparaging comments about patients suffering from substance abuse disorders—you may have even made some of those comments yourself. Next week there’s a chance for you to learn about better ways to frame this disease, from which physicians themselves are far from immune. The AWARE week is a collaboration between AMSA’s Medical Education team and Community & Public Health team, with the goal of shedding light on addiction and recovery. In November 2016, the surgeon general released a report on addiction in the United States and declared the opioid epidemic in the United States a public health crisis. The training medical students receive on addiction varies widely by institution, and the AWARE week aims to offer some direction for medical students to find more information appropriate to their level of knowledge of addiction.
70. Balancing med school with advocacy
Balancing medical school and advocacy work is difficult--how can you find the time to change the world when you're busy making your clinical rounds or studying for the USMLE? AMSA's Chief Executive Officer Joshua Caulfield spoke with AMSA National President Dr. Kelly Thibert about things you can do and ways you can make a difference, all while keeping a successful balance between your medical school workload and your extracurricular activities.
69. Advice for when medicine falls short
As a physician, you won’t be able to solve all of your patients’ problems. Some of those problems, especially systemic ones, will remain just out of a doctor’s reach. In this episode, we learn how to extend that reach. When it seems like medicine isn’t enough, that caring for patients goes beyond the scope of your abilities as solitary provider, or that the problems facing your patients are deeper and more entrenched than medicine can possibly address, those thoughts can be demoralizing. It may even make you question medicine as a career choice. But you aren’t the first to come to that realization, and today we have some concrete advice for you from Dr. Leana Wen, commissioner of health for the city of Baltimore.
68. How to eliminate health disparities among LGBT patients
Discrimination in health care settings sets barriers for LGBT individuals to receive proper care, which leads to significant health disparities in the LGBT community. And one of the biggest barriers LGBT individuals are facing is the lack of trained providers. How can you learn the proper patient care techniques in your medical training, especially if it's lacking from your med school's curriculum? This week is National LGBT Health Awareness Week, and Benjamin Brooks with the National Coalition for LGBT Health joined us to discuss why LGBT health is important and how you, as a provider, can help reduce the existing disparities in health care delivery. Since its creation in 2000, the National Coalition for LGBT Health has advanced the health and well-being of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender individuals through advocacy, education, and health services research. Learn more about the Coalition and its programs at www.healthlgbt.org.
28. Going abroad: How to choose the right program
As overseas clinical experiences continue to grow in popularity and importance, how do you choose the right one? Are you considering the ethics of the program? If not, you should be--medical schools and residency programs are watching. Hear from Dr. Jessica Evert of Child Family Health International on how students can evaluate programs beforehand and what you can do if involved in an ethical dilemma on the ground.
67. Get involved with design in medicine
You use designed objects constantly. Chances are very strong you are using one right now, as you listen to this episode. Have you taken a moment to consider where design in medicine succeeds? And what happens when it fails? If design in medicine and health care doesn’t interest you, you may not have taken long enough to consider how important and far-reaching it is. Devices, systems and processes can all be designed. And too often, they haven’t been well-designed. That leaves a lot of room for physicians—and even medical students—to involve themselves in improving how things work in health care.
39. The experience of Match Day, firsthand
For fourth-years, it all comes down to a single moment. The Match Day ceremonies that will cap off next week at campuses across the country are the end of a long journey for fourth-year medical students. Along the way, they made some huge decisions about themselves and their careers. On Friday of Match Week, they'll get their envelopes. Here's what that's like.
66. Five true things no one will tell you about medical school
You’ll hear about the classes, the professors. You’ll hear horror stories about particular rotations. Friends and other med students will tell you all about exams. But when it comes to looking at the big picture of being a med student, there’s a lot they’ll leave out.
65. Rank order lists: Decisions ahead
Many fourth year students are working hard to finalize their rank order lists as time is closing in, after weeks on the interview trail. It’s a difficult process to narrow in on your top choices, and one that takes several factors into consideration over a long period of time. This week, AMSA's National President Dr. Kelly Thibert shares some of the strategies she’s using while compiling her rank list, as well as strategies she took while on the interview trail that would help her make a decision down the road.
44. I can't believe that's what I did today
Have you given thought to how your life experiences outside medicine will improve your skills as a physician? Coming from a family of physicians, Vidya Viswanathan felt like she needed to cut her own path--one leading in a totally different direction. Her journey took her far afield from health care. Here’s her story of how she found her way back--and how she’s served by everything she learned along the way. Vidya’s story, titled "What do you think I should do," was part of a series of Story Slams presented at AMSA’s 2016 Annual Convention.
64. Five steps for driving community change
Many systems influence the way med students practice medicine, which ultimately impacts your patients’ lives. Advocacy is the way med students can change those systems for the benefit of your patients and practice as compassionate clinicians. AMSA ad lib caught up with Luis Manriquez, MD, to see how one group of students in Washington state took steps to bring change to their medical curriculum, and he shares how you can strive toward reform in your community and at the curriculum level. Interested in keeping up with the Health Equity Circle? Visit healthequitycircle.org.
63. Health care access: Breaking the barriers with RAM
Even today, patients in rural communities across the United States face barriers to basic health care. Several factors come together to produce major disparities in rural health care including cultural and economic differences, educational disparities, near isolation of rural areas, or lack of support from legislators. Hear from Ron Brewer of Remote Area Medical, or RAM, how they are helping make a positive impact on these rural health disparities. Plus hear from students who have volunteered in RAM clinics across the country and how you can get involved too. Interested in learning more about RAM? Visit ramusa.org.
45. Fighting bias with storytelling
Biases in medical training are affecting medical students, but many--including you--may not appreciate that it’s happening. Fixing the problem won’t be easy, but some trainees themselves are working to address pervasive bias in medicine from the ground up. For the students trying to intervene, the first step in addressing bias in medical training is getting everyone to recognize how deeply--and sometimes subtly--ingrained it can be. Medical students Tehreem Rehman and Jes Minor started the Systemic Disease project. Among other goals, the project aims to gather stories from those exposed to or victimized by bias in medicine to start a conversation and increase awareness. To learn more about the Systemic Disease project, visit their website at www.systemicdisease.com or follow @systemicdisease on Twitter. You can also find Tehreem (@tehreemrehman) and Jes (@jes_minor) on Twitter as well.
62. Med school for free? Inside Uniformed Services
Medical school comes at a high cost; are you ready to take on over $150,000 in debt? Maybe you don’t have to. In fact, you could leave with none at all. Joining the armed forces is one way to have your medical school paid for in its entirety, but what’s the trade-off? In this episode, Aaron Saguil, MD, MPH, FAAFP, of the Uniformed Services University joins us to share his insights on military medicine as a career path.
61. On your rank list, "where" matters
Have you thought about where are you going? Not just a particular training program or fellowship, but physically, geographically where? For some, the geographic locations of the residency programs or even medical schools they apply to are secondary at best. Partly, this is because applicants may be wary of adding another factor to an already overwhelming research effort that accounts for reputation, competition, cost--and eventually salary and career flexibility. Sarah Linden founded a company seeking to help drop those pins much more thoughtfully--even scientifically.
13. Story slam: "Smelly cat"
Long days as a resident and late nights in the hospital are both physically and mentally exhausting, but learning to have fun and growing from others' experiences can be the key to success. This week we hear a story from the University of North Carolina (UNC) - Chapel Hill School of Medicine Story Slam, themed "Humanity and Hilarity." The winner that night was Dr. Kenya McNeal-Trice, Associate Professor of Pediatrics and Pediatric Residency Program Director at UNC, who shared her story titled "Smelly Cat" about a particularly rough night when she was a senior resident on the pediatric ward.
22: Story Slam: "Don't put my pants in the dryer"
Have you ever advised a patient to eat healthy and exercise, then hit up the McDonald's drive-through on the way home from work? Maybe it’s time for a wake-up call. Hear from one student who had a wake-up call while driving down the highway with a cup of curly fries, and how she made a fitting realization that would improve her life as a med student and she hopes will improve her relationships with patients.
60. Present your research right
You’ve spent months on a complex research project, from conception to designing your study, to collecting data and coming to your conclusions. It’s all enormously complicated—now, explain the whole thing in 60 seconds. In the most recent Match, fourth-year M.D. match applicants in the U.S. listed 4.7 presentations, abstracts or publications in their professional profile on average. Though the importance of those experiences may vary by specialty or even residency program, the ability to boil your project down to a quick explanation tailored to your audience is critical.
32. Making your background work for you: One student's story
What does the county fair have to do with the journey to becoming a physician? In one student's experience, a lot. Stories are great for connecting people and learning from the experiences of others. In this episode, Joey Johnson tells about his own waiting game on the way to med school from a rural community.
59. Residency interview travel: Bring your A game but keep costs down
You’re unlikely to attend only one residency interview, and even then, it’s doubtful that it’d be right in your backyard. Traveling for residency interviews adds to the list of those hidden costs around the corner in med school, and sometimes the best way to prepare yourself is by hearing from those who did it before you. On this episode, we'll catch up with three current residents--Dr. Dimal Shah, Dr. Rita Kuwahara, and Dr. Alison Case--who went through the process not long ago. Hear how they funded their travel while still bringing their A game to each interview along the way.
58. Stigma and paradox: AAFP's Dr. Wanda Filer on family medicine and primary care
What have you heard about primary care? That there's "too much paperwork?" Or that you're "too smart" to go into it? Or, paradoxically, that "there's too much to learn"? In the spirit of National Primary Care Week, let's talk about the so-called stigma of primary care, and its effect on med students' career choices. Dr. Wanda Filer of the American Academy of Family Physicians addresses the "stigma" head on--and touches on the joy a family physician can find in life-long care of patients.
57. Make the most of "social" interviews on the residency trail
Some residency programs host a social event for you to meet current residents and interns from the program before the formal interview takes place. Joining us this week are Dr. Jeremy Grayson--Pediatric Anesthesiologist at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital and former Program Director--and Dr. Alison Case--first-year resident at Lawrence Family Residency Program--to discuss what you should be looking for out of this experience, how you can use it to your advantage, and how important this interaction really is to residency programs during their selection process.
16. On the trail for residency interviews and the specialty hunt
Most fourth-year medical students are about to begin an annual fall ritual: residency interview season. Last year, then-fourth-year Sahar Barfchin spoke with Perry Tsai about making their specialty choice and Sahar's experience on the residency interview trail.
56. Resident safety, education and the value of time
After being awake 24 hours straight, where’s your head at? Will it be ready for life or death decisions? The ACGME—the accrediting body for residency training in the U.S.—first adopted duty hour restrictions in 2003. In 2011, the ACGME introduced a 16-hour shift limit for first-year residents. The ACGME also granted nearly 190 waivers to certain internal medicine and surgery programs that were participating in the iCOMPARE and FIRST trials, respectively. These trials were intended to examine the effect of longer shifts for residents. Dr. Kelly Thibert says the trials themselves were—and continue to be—unethical, and that current pressure on the ACGME to reverse work hour restrictions is misplaced.
55. Guns, culture and the physician
What does cultural competency have to do with guns and gun violence? And what does it have to do with future physicians? Earlier this summer on AMSA ad lib we covered gun violence as it affects the health care workplace: the hospital itself. But, of course, that isn't even the primary way that gun violence will affect physicians. There are many others, from the victims as patients to their families suffering from loss. Medical students will need to be the ones to push for change, since as physicians they will encounter the grim results of gun violence. The change may be public policy, or a community-based program. Or maybe even finding common ground with gun owners. For some insight, community and public health programming coordinator Allison Hare spoke with an expert, Dr. Daniel Webster.
54. Beyond soundbites and snack tips: Today's patient and health literacy
Are you being taught how to help patients understand all of the overwhelming medical messaging they’re getting? Though the way that medical students are taught has changed gradually over the past century, the way patients learn has lurched forward. Arguably, the modern physician’s job has changed accordingly. The question is whether the physician will be ready for that job. Dr. Rishi Desai found himself on the leading edge of creating useful health information for patients and future physicians alike. Today, he’s the chief medical officer of Osmosis, a learning platform for medical students, where he is one of the people outside traditional medical education helping to shape the way medical students actually learn.
53. Tips for resident survival
In the past few months, trainee wellness has been making the news again. Studies have been revisiting resident work hours restrictions. Depression and suicide among medical residents, students and physicians themselves is an ongoing crisis. Some of the solutions are systemic, but the medical education system is resistant to change; in the meantime, medical trainees must be on the lookout for themselves and their peers. Recently, Dr. Allan Peterkin presented 10 tips to participants in the AMSA Applied Match Preparation program, and in this episode, we bring you a few highlights.
20. Residency interview questions and prep
What's it like to interview for a residency position in neurosurgery? How does it compare to interviewing in other specialties? In this episode, medical students share their experiences and questions, including tackling rumors about the neurosurgery interview process.
52. Story Slam: Christmas Presents
Can you recall a childhood memory when you learned something the hard way? Isaiah Cochran is getting ready to begin his second year of med school at the Wright State University Boonshoft School of Medicine, and as he reflects on his upbringing, he shares a story with us of a harsh childhood lesson his mother taught on Christmas morning. See how it has shaped his values and outlook, not only in everyday life but also in training and as a future physician.
51. Your international experience: Making it count
You’ve completed an international elective or global health experience; so, what’s next? Explore how you can maximize the value of that experience and what next steps you should be taking upon your return with Dr. Joseph C. Kolars, Senior Associate Dean for Education and Global Initiatives at the University of Michigan Medical School.
50. Shots fired: Rehearsing for disaster
It no longer seems impossible, or even unlikely: What happens if your medical center itself comes under attack? Have you thought about your role? What would you do? What should you do? Would you have time in the moment itself to weigh ethical considerations, personal safety and protocol? Probably not. In this episode, we get an inside look at a training exercise preparing health care providers for an attack on their own institution, and learn about the bioethics of just such a situation.
12. The NHSC experience, with Director Luis Padilla, M.D.
Do you have a plan to stay in control of your specialty choice, or is debt going to drive your career? No matter what values a student brings with them to medical school, the cost of their training and the weight of their student loans puts a lot of pressure on their specialty choice. Some may even avoid medicine as a career choice because of the costs. But for those who are really committed to primary care and community-oriented medicine, there are options. The National Health Service Corps is one of those options. In addition to awarding scholarships and loan repayment in exchange for commitments to serve in designated underserved areas after residency, the National Health Service Corps’ Students-to-Service program takes applicants in their final year of medical school for up to $120,000 in loan repayment in exchange for three years of service. With the application process for the Students-to-Service program opening in mid-August, we bring you a conversation with Dr. Luis Padilla, director of the National Health Service Corps, about his own experience as a National Health Service Corps scholar, as well as what they are looking for in their applicants.
49. Story Slam: Beeping MCAT
Do you think your MCAT test day went wrong? Like many of her peers studying for the MCAT, Megan Single spent hundreds of hours over the course of several months preparing for the exam. She woke up on the day of her exam and arrived ready to take on the MCAT head first; however, she couldn’t have anticipated that she was about to walk in on a nightmare. Hear Megan's story of her beeping MCAT, how she overcame defeat--from technological difficulties to illness--and how her experience added a unique perspective to her med school journey today.
31. Keeping creativity alive in med school
Is it possible to maintain a creative life outside of medical training? Is it worth it? When M.D./Ph.D. student Lee Hong found herself drifting away from her poetry amid the grind of training, rather than give in, she wrote a poem about the challenge itself. Here, she reads from and discusses her work and the value it has brought to her in medicine.
21. Admissions barriers and biases with Joey Johnson
Did you spend thousands of dollars on test prep when preparing for medical school? When you prepare for the MCAT exam for entrance to medical school, there's a different standard set from the very beginning. Some students dish out thousands preparing for the exam; but others can't afford such expenses and find themselves without access to test prep materials at all, or possibly buying older materials which leads to outdated studying in comparison to their peers. Hear more from Joey Johnson on admissions barriers and biases.
48. Story Slam: Reaching med school at 60
Even as the definition of a “nontraditional” med student has shifted, there are outliers. Elaine Luther is one such outlier. But medical school isn't just about the medical career that follows. It is itself an accomplishment—and a statement. Here's Elaine's story about what stood in her way, and the night that refocused her on a dream she'd been denied.
47. Children's end-of-life care and the treasures left behind
One of the frustrations of medical school is the distance between the student experience and direct patient care. Medical student involvement in care and care research doesn’t have to be strictly clinical. There are many areas outside the clinical realm that affect the patient experience, and offer an opportunity for medical students to become involved in meaningful care and research. Med student Ramona Mittal found herself working to gather information on a deeply personal practice at many hospitals: the collection, preservation and presentation of mementos from children at the end of life. She has been working to better understand how and why different medical centers manage this delicate but powerful task.
46. Harnessing competition for learning
Does the competitive nature of medical school and medical students hold you back? Is there a way to use it to your advantage? Medical training, it seems, begins and ends with competition. All the way from applying to med school to applying to residency, medical students are seemingly pitted against one another. But how can that competitive spirit be tapped for learning in a healthy way? There are a number of people working on this now, generally using games for learning. Earlier this year, we spoke with a group of medical students who were investigating the use of competitive simulation at their own institution.
45. Fighting bias with storytelling
Biases in medical training are affecting medical students, but many--including you--may not appreciate that it’s happening. Fixing the problem won’t be easy, but some trainees themselves are working to address pervasive bias in medicine from the ground up. For the students trying to intervene, the first step in addressing bias in medical training is getting everyone to recognize how deeply--and sometimes subtly--ingrained it can be. Medical students Tehreem Rehman and Jes Minor started the Systemic Disease project. Among other goals, the project aims to gather stories from those exposed to or victimized by bias in medicine to start a conversation and increase awareness. To learn more about the Systemic Disease project, visit their website at http://www.systemicdisease.com or follow @systemicdisease on Twitter. You can also find Tehreem (@tehreemrehman) and Jes (@jes_minor) on Twitter as well.
27. How to end your "us vs. them" attitude in global medicine
Does being out of your context mean being out of your depth? The school year has come to a close, and for many future physicians, with summer comes an abroad experience. On AMSA ad lib, we’ve heard about picking a responsible study abroad program. But what happens when you are already in the middle of your experience and you find yourself in a tight spot, ethically? Or--maybe more likely--you aren’t sure about what you are seeing. Sometimes, even when you don’t realize it, these questions may spring from your own inexperience. Differences in populations and resources make a big difference in how medicine is practiced outside the United States, and if you have an open mind, that’s the whole point of having a training experience outside your normal context.
44. Story Slam: I can't believe that's what I did today
Have you given thought to how your life experiences outside medicine will improve your skills as a physician? Coming from a family of physicians, Vidya Viswanathan felt like she needed to cut her own path--one leading in a totally different direction. Her journey took her far afield from health care. Here’s her story of how she found her way back--and how she’s served by everything she learned along the way. Vidya’s story, titled "What do you think I should do," was part of a series of Story Slams presented at AMSA’s 2016 Annual Convention.
43. Tools, tips and teams
These days, we're always looking for an easy fix. Come on, isn't there an app to fix our team? Not exactly. But of course there are ways to use software to help you implement healthy team dynamics, such as transparent goals, and team member accountability. You don't even need anything fancy like the big project planning suites.
42. Team angst. Overcome conflict in group work
Are team members in your small group lifting each other up, or holding each other back? So much of medical training is individual study, but medicine has a growing appreciation for teamwork in health care, and that may reflected at your medical school. Some schools do more group work than others, but you may find yourself on a small group project or even in an informal study group where team dynamics are holding everyone back. What's your role in keeping the group together and on track? What can you do if things start to fall apart?
41. Working with patients in the era of Yelp
Even after you’ve left medical school, you’ll have to stay current. There’s a lot more to it than just picking up CME credits; though staying up to date on clinical medicine and pharmacology is critical, there are technologies and trends among patients and society that you’ll have to keep up with. Dr. Jim Slayton explains how he’s found that to be the case over the past 25 years since he graduated medical school and served as AMSA president. He also has some advice on how you, as a medical student, can help more experienced physicians stay up to date on these trends too.
40. Making the link between community and care
If you don’t know the community you’ll be practicing in, you won’t be able to serve your patients as effectively as possible. So what is the link between community and clinical care, and why does it matter? Here to help us understand the link is Jay Bhatt, D.O. Dr. Bhatt is many things: Primary care physician, national health service corps scholar. He teaches med students, residents...and dancers.
Ep. 39: The experience of Match Day, firsthand
For fourth-years, it all comes down to a single moment. The Match Day ceremonies that will cap off this week at campuses across the country are the end of a long journey for fourth-year medical students. Along the way, they made some huge decisions about themselves and their careers. On Friday, they'll get their envelopes. Here's what that's like.
Ep. 38: Leadership is learned. Here's how
Learn how to be a effective leader. We've all heard that leaders aren't born, they are made. But who "makes" them, and how? In this episode, Drs. Deborah Hall and Suzanne Rose explore the importance of medical leadership, starting in medical school, and how med students can improve their leadership skills.
Ep. 37: Making change: Meeting with Congress
As a medical student, you can have real power when it comes to shaping policy and political opinion. But first, you have to seize it. No matter whether you'd like to advocate on behalf of patients, against student debt or for any number of important topics, elected officials will listen to you. Dr. Alison Case is here to help you get started. Dr. Case would like to extend special thanks to Professor Mary Beth Levin, Dr. Pratima Gupta, and Max Feinstein for their contribution to this episode and more generally their guidance and great advocacy work. Music is this episode includes "Super Bubbly" by Jesse Spillane, licensed under a Creative Commons license. You can find more of his work at http://www.jessespillane.com.
Ep. 36: Pencils down. Rank lists are in
Final residency program rank lists for the Match were due this week. Here, one applicant looks back on how she shaped her list and reflects on how her residency interviews factored in.
Ep. 35: Physicians and the refugee's journey
For physicians in training in the U.S., the global refugee crisis will likely bring patients with unique stories and challenges to your clinic. Here's how to help.
Ep. 34: Story Slam: "Speed Bumps" and the secret recipe
Have you thought about what makes medical school worth the effort? What story do you tell people when they ask? In this two-part episode, we hear one student explain her very personal motivation, and Perry Tsai explains how his storytelling sessions work.
Ep. 33: What you probably aren't learning about transgender health care
If you’ve spent more than five hours learning about proper LGBT health care techniques in your formal medical education, you may be the outlier. Transgender patients face major health disparities, often because health providers haven’t received adequate training on how to ask the right questions to deliver respectful and effective care.
Ep. 32: Making your background work for you: A student's story
What does the county fair have to do with the journey to becoming a physician? In one student's experience, a lot. Stories are great for connecting people and learning from the experiences of others. In this episode, Joey Johnson tells about his own waiting game on the way to med school from a rural community.
Ep. 31: Keeping creativity alive in med school
Is it possible to maintain a creative life outside of medical training? Is it worth it? When M.D./Ph.D. student Lee Hong found herself drifting away from her poetry amid the grind of training, rather than give in, she wrote a poem about the challenge itself. Here, she reads from and discusses her work and the value it has brought to her in medicine.
Ep. 30: Stand out with med schools: define your personal mission
Med school admissions isn't just about GPA and MCAT scores. Applicants have to explain how medicine is a good fit for them, and vice versa. But how do they convey that in their application? We talk to admissions expert Dr. Gary Rose.
Ep. 29: The advantage of "non-traditional"
Even if you are not a non-traditional student, there's a lot you can learn from their experiences, like lessons on how to capitalize on the unusual aspects of your career in the med school application process.
Ep. 28: Med schools are watching. Go abroad the right way
Think study abroad will help your med school application? It might do the opposite, if you choose a program that takes advantage of patients. Here's how to spot the dangerous programs.
Ep. 27: How to end your "Us vs. Them" attitude in global medicine
To get the most out of an international training experience, future physicians have to appreciate both difference and similarity in other systems. Otherwise, there's a risk that those differences will simply reinforce biases, even unintentional ones. Pavitra Krishnamani talks us through some steps to avoid the "us vs. them" divide, as well as how to deal with typical ethical conflicts on the ground.
Ep. 26: Tales from the road, with Alison Case
Dr. Alison Case takes us on her Midwestern advocacy road trip, from rallying around a human milk carton in Chicago to tailgating with Donald Trump in Iowa.
Ep. 25: Med Student Experiences, Training in LGBT Care
Recent strides to improve care for LGBT patients haven't been universal. Even as large medical groups develop curricula for training students, there is tremendous variation in how med schools and teaching hospitals approach those topics. For students whose schools fall short in terms of training or support--or even those whose administration could be hostile--Dr. Carl Streed, Jr. has advice. (Have a question for Dr. Streed? Email him at cjstreed@gmail.com.)
Ep. 24: Specialty Choice--Taking the Long View With General Internal Medicine
Is general internal medicine all clinical all the time? What does it take to get into a general internal medicine residency position? Dr. Paul O'Rourke, a fellow in general internal medicine at Johns Hopkins University, and Tyler Mains, a fourth-year medical student, address med students' questions and some myths about the specialty as they explain the advantages of being a general internist.
Ep. 23: Ethics, Tech and the Dreaded EHR
Crowdsourcing diagnosis. Bringing the patient into the physician's notes. These are all challenges and opportunities the incoming generation of physicians will face. Jumping off a theme from one of AMSA's upcoming Fall Conferences, Dr. Jeff Koetje dives into the digitized black bag of the future.
Ep. 22: "Don't Put My Pants in the Dryer," Brittany Papworth's Story Slam
This week we hear a story from the University of North Carolina (UNC) - Chapel Hill School of Medicine Story Slam, themed "Idio-path: Stories of Personal Journeys." The winner that night was Brittany Papworth, a second year medical student at the time. She shared her story titled "Don't Put My Pants In the Dryer" in which she made a fitting realization that would improve her life as a medical student and that she hopes will improve her relationships with her patients.
Ep. 21: Admissions Barriers: Interview with Joey Johnson
Think the playing field is level when it comes to medical school admissions? Student Editor Joey Johnson talks about his feature story on discrimination and bias in the October 2015 issue of The New Physician magazine.
Ep. 20: Residency Interview Questions and Prep
What's it like to interview for a residency position in neurosurgery? How does it compare to interviewing in other specialties? In this episode, medical students share their experiences and questions, including tackling rumors about the neurosurgery interview process.
Ep. 19: What is the physician's role in climate change?
The health effects of climate change are already showing up in the clinic. How will you address it as a physician? Here are selections from a webinar given by Dr. Jerome Paulson on the front-line role of physicians in communicating with patients about the environment. Besides practicing and teaching pediatrics for more than 30 years, Dr. Paulson is professor emeritus of environmental and occupational health at the George Washington University Milken Institute School of Public Health.
Ep. 18: Choosing Your Residency Program
Finding the right residency program is a journey that starts well before the fourth-year interview trail. In this episode, AMSA ad lib's Rachel Glassford talks to AMSA's immediate past president, Dr. Britani Kessler, about what factors she considered while weighing programs and preparing for interviews.
Ep. 17: More than medical school: AMSA's benefits and value
We sat down with some of your fellow AMSA members who share personal experiences from their AMSA journey and what being an AMSA member means to them.
Ep. 16: On the Trail for Residency Interviews and the Specialty Hunt
Most fourth-year medical students are about to begin an annual fall ritual: residency interview season. Earlier this year, then-vice president for leadership development Sahar Barfchin and Perry Tsai talked about Sahar's experience on the residency interview trail and about making the decision on a specialty.
Episode 15: The Student Voice on the TenOne Day of Action
In this episode we learn about the TenOne movement promoting Medicare for all. We'll also hear about the Medicare for All Act, a day of advocacy and action, and where the single-payer movement stands today after the implementation of the Affordable Care Act.
Episode 14: Health IT and Med Students
Health information technology on the wards has been spreading rapidly, and it's come a long way--but there’s still room for improvement to be usable, convenient and effective. In this episode we'll be speaking with two medical students who are working with many of the stakeholders in health IT to improve the technology itself, the policy surrounding it and the training students and physicians receive.
Episode 13: Story Slam: Dr. McNeal-Trice's "Smelly Cat"
Long days as a resident and late nights in the hospital are both physically and mentally exhausting, but learning to have fun and growing from others' experiences can be the key to success. This week we hear a story from the University of North Carolina (UNC) - Chapel Hill School of Medicine Story Slam, themed "Humanity and Hilarity." The winner that night was Dr. Kenya McNeal-Trice, Associate Professor of Pediatrics and Pediatric Residency Program Director at UNC, who shared her story titled "Smelly Cat" about a particularly rough night when she was a senior resident on the pediatric ward.
Episode 12: Q&A with NHSC Director Dr. Luis Padilla
The cost of medical training puts a lot of pressure on their specialty choice, but for those who are really committed to primary care and community-oriented medicine, there are options. The National Health Service Corps is one of those options, awarding scholarships and loan repayment in exchange for commitments to serve in underserved areas. We spoke with the National Health Service Corps’ director, Dr. Luis Padilla, about what they are looking for in their applicants.
Episode 11: Stress, the System and Self-Reflection
Becoming a physician is a complex journey that inspires questioning and self reflection. In this episode, Dr. Aliye Runyan talks about challenges within the health care system that may hinder the practice of reflection, as well as how physicians may have to collectively overcome them.
Episode 10: Turning Passion Into Motivation
Turning passion into motivation is a critical skill that keeps medical students and premeds on the track to becoming practicing physicians. Sometimes the dream of becoming a physician and advocate for health is a literal one. Sometimes a particular interest may call you to stray from the path to medicine briefly.
Episode 9: Three Lessons From the Surgeon General
As the 19th Surgeon General of the United States, Vice Admiral Vivek Murthy works to educate the general public about their own health. But drawing on his own background and lessons from his personal journey, he offered advice at AMSA's 2015 convention to medical students about overcoming challenges they'll face in training, the value of their youth and enthusiasm, and the importance of taking risks.
Episode 8: MCAT Old and New
MCAT 2015 took effect in April nearly doubling the total exam time and adding questions on biochemistry, psychology, and sociology. In this episode, we will hear from premedical students about lessons they’ve learned while preparing for the MCAT as well as their experience taking the new MCAT, the old MCAT, or both.
Episode 7: The Future of Reflection
Though reflection in medicine and narrative medicine may sometimes appear at odds with the rigidity of patient safety checklists, Dr. Aliye Runyan suggests the two are not as far apart as it would seem. In this episode, Dr. Runyan talks about how reflection in medicine and narrative medicine improve patient care, and how the patient safety checklist is a reflective practice in its own right.
Episode 6: Reflection as a Resident
Though there are many ways to cope with the stress of medical training--and many ways to improve medical care and practice itself, very few of those are easy to implement, especially in the middle of residency. In this episode, Dr. Aliye Runyan talks about the importance of reflection in medicine--and the difficulty of keeping up reflective practice in the middle of intern year.
Episode 5: Get ready for King v. Burwell
A decision in the Supreme Court's King v. Burwell case is expected very soon. In this episode of AMSA ad lib, Dr. David K. Jones of Boston University's School of Public Health gives us some background in anticipation of a major decision that could affect the future of the Affordable Care Act.
Episode 4: Training with Tech, part 2
Previously on AMSA ad lib, we heard about the potential of medical students to drive the development and implementation of technology in and outside of the classroom. In this episode of AMSA ad lib, we'll hear about how students have been working those ideas into patients' lives and how students can be stay on top of the latest tools.
Episode 3: Training with Tech, part 1
We may think of medicine as a highly tech-centric profession, but physicians can be highly resistant to change. Sometimes they need a little push from the outside--or a little push from physicians-in-training. We'll hear about the democratization of health care technology in this episode of AMSA ad lib.
Episode 2: Patient Lessons
In medical school, the real lessons come at the bedside, and the most important of those come not from residents or attending physicians, but from patients themselves.
Episode 1: Summers and Sanity
At the unofficial beginning of summer, physicians-in-training tell us how they have--or have not--taken enough time for themselves during their training.