Insights on Residency Training

February 6th, 2020

I’m Graduating from Residency! What’s Next?

Prarthna Bhardwaj, MD

My whole life, I have always wanted to do something that will be remembered. Becoming a physician was a hard but well-thought-out choice. Toward the end of my residency, I knew I wanted to be a hematologist-oncologist, but I had no idea what type of career pathway I wanted to pursue. During the APDIM Chief Resident Annual Meeting last year, […]

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November 20th, 2019

Top 5 Tips for Residency Interview Success

Frances Ue, MD, MPH

Four years ago on a crisp winter day, I interviewed at Cambridge Health Alliance’s (CHA) Harvard Primary Care Internal Medicine Residency program. From the warm, cozy dinner of Nepali momos to the thoughtful and inspiring stories shared, I felt like I had found “my people.” Those that were committed to social justice and advocating for the needs […]

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September 5th, 2019

Building Your Squad — Residency and Beyond

Ellen Poulose-Redger, MD

At nearly every stage in our education and training, we find “our people.”  Maybe it’s your table-mate in kindergarten, or the kid with the really cool light up sneakers in preschool who becomes your best friend.  Maybe it’s your next-door neighbor who you play with after school, or a coworker from your first job in […]

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March 14th, 2019

Musings on Match Day, the Conception Day of our Residencies

Ellen Poulose-Redger, MD

Match Day. The one day that medical students across the United States all simultaneously look forward to and also fear. It’s really a whole week of roller-coaster emotions: on Monday we find out if we matched somewhere, and on Friday we find out where. (And, in between, if we unfortunately didn’t match, we scramble to find a position that is […]

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January 30th, 2019

I’m Sad That Interns Don’t Want to Do a Palliative Care Rotation

Justin Davis, MBBS

It’s an exciting time for final-year medical students in Australia. Exams are over. They’re in their last-ever clinical rotations, and they’ve finally found out in which hospital they’ll be starting their careers. Most are happy. Perhaps some aren’t, I dunno. But most are simply excited to finally start their intern year as doctors, having spent 8 or more […]

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December 26th, 2018

Trapped – Chronic Pain and Opioids

Ashley McMullen, MD

“I feel like a caged animal” — My patient offered me this lens through which to view his life seeped in chronic pain. For him, pain dictated his entire sense of being — it was something that simply could not be distilled down to a single value on a 10-point scale. The cage represented the […]

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August 29th, 2017

Procedures in Residency

Karmen Wielunski, DO

Hi. My name is Karmen, and I’m a fainter. It’s true. I am one of those people who occasionally falls victim (pun intended) to vasovagal syncope at its finest. It tends to happen at inopportune times and places. For example, the first time I passed out, I landed in a Christmas tree. I was in high […]

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August 23rd, 2017

Is Transferring a Patient to the ICU a Failure?

Cassie Shaw, MD

As I sit with one hand wrapped around a greasy diner cheeseburger, eating my feelings — I mean, my dinner — it sure feels like failure. It’s 7:22 pm, and the first patient with my name listed as the attending is being packed up to roll into his new room in the intensive care unit. Did I […]

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March 20th, 2017

Resident Wellness in Graduate Medical Education

Kashif Shaikh, MD

Happy Endings: Living in Orlando, one cannot escape Disney. Disney movies are a delight, because one subconsciously anticipates that the happy ending is going to make up for the rest of the characters’ struggles. It works for me! Be it Simba, Cinderella, Snow White, Belle, or  Elsa, every Disney fairy tale gives us the desired ending of a happy and […]

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July 10th, 2015

Transitions of Care

Andrew Ip, MD

Brief HPI: 3rd year resident, Asian-American male, from Philly, presented to Emory University as a wide-eyed intern July 2012, currently admitted to become a new Chief resident at the VA Meds: see EMR Pertinent Labs: see EMR Top Active Problems: Computer Codes – missing but awaiting IT approval Awaiting MRI of brain past 48 hrs – syncope work up […]

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