Insights on Residency Training

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 25th, 2015

More Work Hours, More Strokes?

Andrew Ip, MD

Do doctors work too much? Residents would probably say “Yes! I’m burnt out,” and supplement it with some form of “I’d much rather work less.” Outside of residency, the answer may be a mix of yes, no, and maybe. Recently, Lancet published a meta-analysis on work hours and its effect on incident coronary disease and stroke. The study showed that […]

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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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September 11th, 2015

Overnight Admission

Gregory Shumer, MD

BEEEP BEEEP BEEEP BEEEP – I pressed a button to silence my pager and rose groggily from the bed in the on-call room.  I hadn’t truly been asleep, just catching a quick rest between pages.  It was 2am.  I was 19 hours into my shift and, from the looks of the page, there was a […]

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September 4th, 2015

Time Flies

Raktim Ghosh, MD

We are approaching another September 15. This date is probably the second-most important in the U.S. residency application and selection season; the most important is obviously the match day. But, on September 15, residency applicants can start sending their applications to Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) accredited programs through Electronic Residency Application Service, and programs can […]

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August 28th, 2015

How Do You Teach Art?

Andrew Ip, MD

When I first applied for medical school, I beamed about exploring not just the science of medicine, but also the art.  But what is that art?  Some would say it’s clinical experience, combined with being cultured and compassionate and communicating with clarity/conviction.  But how would one teach that art? Journal Watch’s Dr. Allan Brett recently reviewed a multicenter […]

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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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August 7th, 2015

Cat Herding

Gregory Shumer, MD

“The day you earned your MD, you became a leader… A leader to your future patients, a leader in your community, and a leader within the healthcare system.”It’s May 7th, 2015 – day 1 of the annual Chief Resident Leadership Development Program in Kansas City, Missouri.  It’s an event meant to welcome the  newly selected chiefs […]

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July 31st, 2015

Do I Want My Daughter to Be a Doctor?

Raktim Ghosh, MD

It was not a very typical Saturday morning in Cleveland, at least not to us. My soon to be 1-year-old daughter woke up with surprise in her big doe eyes. That’s right… she woke up not in her nanny’s lap or in her crib, but in between both of her parents who were still sleeping. This was probably […]

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