Insights on Residency Training

May 23rd, 2016

My Third Day in Greece

Ahmad Yousaf, MD

1) At one point today in the Idomini refugee camp, I was playing catch with a beautiful baby girl in between some of the tents. She could not have been much older than my own daughter and, like my daughter, would throw the ball backwards over her head instead of towards me and then would […]

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May 22nd, 2016

My Second Day in Greece

Ahmad Yousaf, MD

1) The following are real conversations the team has had with patients/refugees in our short time here: Young lady who came in with urinary symptoms: “How old are you?” “I am 27 years old… I hope this is the last year of my life.”   Teenage male: “I have to get out of here. I’ve spent 3 months of my […]

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May 21st, 2016

My First Day in Greece

Ahmad Yousaf, MD

I am participating in the SAMS (Syrian American Medical Society) medical mission in Greece. 1) Loneliness is truly the darkest consequence of this crisis. The Syrian people haven’t just been kicked out of their homes. They were stripped away from their neighborhoods, friends, and family via death, destruction, sickness, and tough decisions that they had to make about splitting […]

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June 30th, 2015

The Storm Is Coming

Ahmad Yousaf, MD

The tempest approaches. July the First. The interns approach the edge of their protected nests and prepare to jump into the whirlwind of senior-hood. The responsibility of managing a team weighs them down like the gravitational force, pulling them toward the unforgiving earth. They will flap their little wings and flex their intellectual muscles frantically […]

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April 30th, 2015

The Nepal Earthquake: A Harvard Fellow Shares Her Experience Near Everest Base Camp

Guest Blogger

Renee N. Salas, MD, MS, is a fellow in wilderness medicine in the Massachusetts General Hospital Department of Emergency Medicine. She is also an instructor of surgery at Harvard School of Medicine. Dr. Renee Salas was working in a clinic below Mount Everest Base Camp when a 7.8-magnitude earthquake struck Nepal on April 25, 2015. She […]

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October 6th, 2014

NEJM Journal Watch Welcomes Priya Umapathi, MD

Charleen Hamilton

The editors and staff of NEJM Journal Watch welcome Dr. Priya Umapathi as our new Chief Resident blogger. Priya will be sharing her experiences as a teacher and mentor at Rutgers.

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April 28th, 2014

Cynicism in Medicine

Akhil Narang, M.D.

“Are you more or less cynical than when you started residency?” This was the question my Program Director asked our senior internal medicine residents at a recent dinner with Dr. Bob Wachter. If you aren’t familiar with Dr. Wachter, he is widely acclaimed as the “Father of Hospital Medicine” and a renowned champion of patient […]

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January 13th, 2014

Reflections of a New Attending

Akhil Narang, M.D.

During my year as a Chief Resident, I have the privilege to attend on the general medicine service for 8 weeks. I recently completed 4 weeks and, as expected, found myself in an entirely new realm of patient care and accountability. I would be remiss without recalling a few of the pivotal lessons and poignant moments […]

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September 11th, 2013

Oral Anticoagulation, Part I: Direct Thrombin Inhibitors

Akhil Narang, M.D.

When I started residency 4 years ago, warfarin was really the only choice of anticoagulation widely used for prevention of stroke in patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) and in patients with venous thromboembolism (VTE). Despite knowing about the coagulation cascade for decades, only recently have viable alternatives to warfarin become available. In this post, I hope […]

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August 23rd, 2013

Teaching Ultrasound to Internal Medicine Residents

Akhil Narang, M.D.

Welcome, everyone! I am thrilled at the prospect of sharing with you my thoughts on issues that pertain to residency training during the current academic year. I recently attended the Fundamentals of Critical Care Ultrasound course hosted by the Society for Critical Care Medicine (SCCM). It was well attended by a mix of intensivits, anesthesiologists, and […]

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