Insights on Residency Training

February 3rd, 2016

Zaatari: Day 3 with Syrian Refugees

Ahmad Yousaf, MD

This is my third post about my trip to the Zaatari Refugee camp in Jordan with the Syrian American Medical Society (SAMS). I will continue to share my daily journal entries with you in hopes of educating the American medical and nonmedical communities about what I saw, erasing the irrational fears that have guided the discussion […]

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January 29th, 2016

Zaatari: Day 2 with Syrian Refugees

Ahmad Yousaf, MD

This is my second post about my trip to the Zaatari Refugee camp in Jordan with the Syrian American Medical Society (SAMS). I will continue to share my daily journal entries with you in hopes of educating the American medical and nonmedical communities about what I saw, erasing the irrational fears that have guided the discussion […]

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January 15th, 2016

Zaatari: Day 0–1

Ahmad Yousaf, MD

“I am going to a Syrian refugee camp.” The words came out of my mouth without hesitation, and my wife’s reaction is exactly what I expected… She already knew. After 5 years of marriage and 8 years of being stuck with me, she knew how I was going to react when I saw the medical mission […]

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December 18th, 2015

Morbidity and Mortality

Ahmad Yousaf, MD

He nervously shifted in his position in front of the audience of his peers. His voice was a little shaky, and the few words trying to escape his lips were chewed and swallowed. He was narrating a case in which a colleague’s sense of urgency, or rather, her lack thereof, likely negatively affected his patient. She […]

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December 15th, 2015

Frequent Flier

Ahmad Yousaf, MD

The name of the patient has been changed to preserve his privacy. “Donald passed away.” We had been sitting in the chiefs’ office with a few of the attendings who had all had Donald on their service at one time or another. Everybody exhaled a collective sigh, soaking in the sting of the knowledge of Don’s death; then, […]

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November 27th, 2015

A Generation of Softies

Ahmad Yousaf, MD

I watch as my almost-2-year-old daughter awkwardly climbs the stairs. I do not hold her hand, but I do not turn my back on her either. She is still clumsy, and her little bowed legs often miss their targeted landing spots. She holds on to the rail with a vice grip that steadies each monumental […]

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October 9th, 2015

We Were a Wreck, but the Baby Was Fine

Ahmad Yousaf, MD

I dropped the little booger off at daycare today. I was over-prepared, and the nanny’s face said it all, “this is your first time, huh?” It was. Before this, Safiya was being taken care of by her loving grandmothers and a wonderful nanny that was literally like family. But now she is almost 2, the […]

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September 16th, 2015

Tips for Intern Survival

Ahmad Yousaf, MD

With the start of the residency year comes a new batch of excited residents who will have many of the same successes and failures as those who tread the path before them. They will quickly fall into cliché niches within the residency class: the gunner, the humanitarian, the slacker, the superstar, the researcher. Their medically immature […]

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August 25th, 2015

Motivations of a Doctor in Training

Ahmad Yousaf, MD

As my co-chiefs and I try to figure out how to best serve our residents and deliver a worthwhile education to them, I have begun contemplating what it is that really motivates doctors in training. What is the driving force behind a resident striving to be a more knowledgeable clinician? How do we convince them […]

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August 14th, 2015

The Answer

Ahmad Yousaf, MD

“Please answer my call.”   That was the text I received over the weekend from a friend after having missed his call. I called back and he was panicked: “what is alpha… al… alteplase?”  There was a pause as I waited for context… “My mother-in-law… she went into cardiac arrest. They got her heartbeat back, but […]

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