As a Caribbean medical student doing rotations in the United States, my schedule wasn’t quite “fitting” well with my Drexel University colleagues rotating at the same hospital. To solve the dilemma, we took a “pre-clinical” elective which was randomly assigned.…
“Leadership skills” was one of the most under-qualified statements I’ve written on my resume as a young adult. At that time I had no idea what it meant to be an effective and efficient leader. Look at your inbox today…
Way more than just a test, the USMLE Step 1 has critical implications on the rest of your life. Often times this score is your first impression on program directors and interviewers and will be a major determinant in what…
After four long years of undergraduate education, and another four long years of medical school, it seems bizarre to even consider another year of school. Mix in residency and it all seems overwhelming. However, as you walk through the hospital…
So, it’s Friday again. But this is no ordinary Friday, this is Match Day. You’ve been waiting for this day your whole life. Four years of training underwhelmingly come down to a single system-generated email telling you whether you’ll be a resident…
All I want for Christmas is a Littman 3M Cardiology IV stethoscope, said no medical student ever. As the holidays round the corner (and Grandma starts reaching for her rubber banded wad of cash) all sorts of thoughts pop into…
The first time I encountered this dilemma was while sitting in the back of my “medical law” course in medical school, with a highly esteemed lawyer, who seemed rather stern in his approach, at the front of the class. “Never…
Noncompliant, difficult, unreasonable… all words that we hear on a daily basis to describe patients who do not agree with our treatment plan. It is incredibly easy (and convenient) to stereotype a patient as noncompliant and defer the blame of…
Whether you’re drinking from a firehose or running a marathon, you know what it’s like to be in medical school. Submerged in a sea of academia, you seem blind to what is going on around you. The daily news becomes…
It’s a cold December morning in New York City. I arrive at the hospital at 6 am and inhale my bagel as I ride the elevator up to the 3rd floor telemetry unit, slightly tachycardic myself. As an intern, I…