Insights on Residency Training

September 3rd, 2020

“Never Waste a Crisis”: Perspectives from History and Today

Holland Kaplan, MD

The mantra “Never waste a crisis” has stuck with me for the past several months. This statement was reportedly made by Winston Churchill in the 1940s, during World War II. However, a well-known internal medicine faculty member and leader at Baylor College of Medicine, Dr. David Hyman, who recently passed away, also gave us this […]

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August 27th, 2020

“Use The Force”: How Do We Teach in the Operating Room?

Vivek Sant, MD

As I embark on my chief year in general surgery, the aspect I look forward to most is taking junior residents through operations. I am grateful to have had excellent teachers over the past 5 years, and I appreciate the opportunity to pay forward this mentorship. But taking what you have learned and teaching someone […]

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August 12th, 2020

Welcome! Chief Residents for 2020-2021 Join the Panel

Charleen Hamilton

The editors and staff of NEJM Journal Watch warmly welcome our new panel of Chief Residents for the 2020-2021 academic year. This will be a challenging year for all healthcare professionals, and we are grateful that these five dedicated, talented, and busy physicians have agreed to share their concerns and triumphs with the NEJM Journal […]

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June 10th, 2020

Resident Wellness Doesn’t Need to Be Expensive or Elaborate

Daniel Orlovich, MD, PharmD

“We’re not like Stanford” she said to me as we sat next to each other during our breakout session. My cheeks reddened. Somehow, suddenly, I felt as if I became the embodiment of my entire institution. And my furrowed brow revealed my surprise. Her tone softened. “What I mean is, resident wellness is easier when the program […]

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May 27th, 2020

Virtual Residency Recruitment in the Time of COVID

Prarthna Bhardwaj, MD

COVID-19 has undeniably altered life as we know it. As if getting into residency wasn’t hard enough already, COVID has made it a notch harder. Graduate Medical Education across the nation is preferably adopting video interviews for a virtual residency recruitment. This noncontact change was further endorsed by the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC). What […]

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February 26th, 2020

Medicare for All: The Healthcare Our Nation Needs

Frances Ue, MD, MPH

Over a month into the new year and feels like the world around us is in grave peril. There are many reasons to lose hope: the climate crisis with Australia’s wildfires, the evolving COVID-19 epidemic, the acquittal of the President’s impeachment charges, and the list goes on. Combined with long hours, sick patients, and seemingly never-ending […]

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February 18th, 2020

How Can Attendings Affect Resident Burnout?

Daniel Orlovich, MD, PharmD

A Sad Short Story Harvard medical school. Stanford general surgery training. Northwestern vascular surgery fellowship. Suicide. This devastating path, taken by a 33-year-old trainee in 2010, is not unique. An estimated one physician commits suicide every single day in the U.S. alone (JAMA 2014; 312:1725). A number of these lives are taken on the hospital premises, places […]

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January 16th, 2020

Reflections of an Aspiring Clinician-Educator

Frances Ue, MD, MPH

Recently, I had the pleasure of hiking up Roys Peak in South Island, New Zealand. A challenging 1586-meter summit that offered magnificent views of Lake Wanaka and snow-capped mountains of the Southern Alps. On this hike, devoid of phone calls and pages, I reflected on my journey as an aspiring clinician-educator. Many of us (like […]

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December 12th, 2019

Why Did I Spend an Extra Year as a Chief Resident?

Prarthna Bhardwaj, MD

I was in conversation with a residency applicant recently when we broached the topic of my career plans. I explained that I was interested in pursuing a hematology/oncology fellowship in the future. He asked “Why did you do a chief year, then? Were you trying to improve your application?” At first, I was somewhat offended, […]

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November 26th, 2019

Of Metrics and Medicine

Eric Bressman, MD

One of the least motivating requests I received routinely as a new intern was something like, “… and can we make sure this is a discharge before noon?” I recall a particularly eager nursing manager surveying the resident teams on her unit to gauge our interest in arriving even earlier each morning (5 AM, perhaps?) […]

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