Insights on Residency Training

April 2nd, 2012

What Would You Do?

Gopi Astik, MD

While combing through my social media outlets recently, I came across an article that struck me. The article entitled “Why Doctors Die Differently” addresses a subject many professionals in the medical field know but don’t really talk about — that physicians die too. The article explains how we, as physicians, understand the limits of medical therapy and procedures […]

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March 2nd, 2012

Curses and Blessings of Aging

Gopi Astik, MD

 It seems that every time I am in clinic, patients bring in supplements they bought to prevent aging. I usually look at the product ingredients, which include vitamins and herbs, and ask myself three questions: 1. Why didn’t I market this? I could put vitamins and herbs together and sell it to the baby boomers saying […]

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January 27th, 2012

Finding My Center…Court

Gopi Astik, MD

Nobody ever said that residency (or medicine in general) was easy. Still, I don’t think I expected so much of my time to be taken up by my job. Don’t get me wrong — I love what I do — but it’s not as easy as other occupations to “leave work at work.” As an […]

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December 16th, 2011

Be All That You (and the Program) Want You to Be!

Gopi Astik, MD

Interview season is in full force at UMKC. I never realized before how much work goes on behind the scenes to prepare and conduct these interview days, but I sure do now! As a Chief Resident, I schedule residents to attend the applicant dinners, lunches, and tours, and to spend time with the applicants our lounge. This […]

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October 20th, 2011

Shifting Times

Gopi Astik, MD

Anyone involved in academic medicine probably is aware of the new ACGME duty-hour restrictions that went into effect  on 7/1/2011. For those of you who aren’t, the new guidelines state that PGY1 residents cannot work for longer than 16 hours straight. If they do work longer, they require strategic uninterrupted naps. The restrictions on PGY2 […]

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October 17th, 2011

Checking It Twice

Gopi Astik, MD

I always remember my mother trying to teach me things I didn’t agree with. Being the bigmouth that I was (am), I would voice my disagreement, and she would tell me that, one day, I would tell my kids the same thing. I, of course, did not agree. I felt the same way about some […]

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September 26th, 2011

Hello, Everyone!

Gopi Astik, MD

Hello, everyone, my name is Gopi Astik, and I am one of the internal medicine chief residents at the University of Missouri-Kansas City. Our program has 4th-year chiefs, so I have completed my residency and am excited to be able to share the experience of my transition from resident to new faculty with all of […]

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