Insights on Residency Training

June 24th, 2016

The Scam of Medicine

Ahmad Yousaf, MD

“Oh no, she’s calling again.” I look at the caller ID in the Chiefs’ office where I sit with one of my co-Chiefs.  It is the Documentation Lady. Her call is as regular as BMs with C. diff: Profuse, excessive, associated with a lot of hot air and a bunch of crap, but inevitable. We play […]

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May 13th, 2016

“Be Careful. He’s Violent.”

Briana Buckner, MD

“Be careful. He’s violent.” That was the way sign out began for Mr. T. The intern continued, “He has been in the hospital forever because he was kicked out of his nursing home. Good luck. And, oh yeah… he’s blind.” Puzzled, I looked at my list of patients and, not sure whether I should write […]

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May 6th, 2016

Declaration of Death

Ahmad Yousaf, MD

“Is he dead?” I stepped up closer. He was yellow. Bright yellow. Steve had been admitted to the hospital for altered mental status when his last PET Scan revealed that the pancreatic cancer had spread from the tail of his pancreas into his liver where it now blocked the ducts that carried the bile out of […]

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April 27th, 2016

The Dark Side of Medicine

Ahmad Yousaf, MD

The following is paraphrased documentation, authored by a physician I know, regarding an intoxicated patient in the ER: 1AM: Patient is telling nurse, “Before I leave, I need everyone’s name for my lawsuit. Tell the phlebotomist that if he’s good, he’ll  get a cut.” 1:40AM: Patient is making inappropriate sexual comments and is verbally aggressive with medical staff. He […]

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February 26th, 2016

Caring For Today’s Veterans

Briana Buckner, MD

For most of residency, I missed the opportunity to care for veterans — mainly for selfish reasons, including my unwillingness to learn a new EMR and hospital. Once I became a chief resident, I realized that I would be spending 4 months at our local VA hospital. When I first came to the VA as a chief, my […]

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February 3rd, 2016

Zaatari: Day 3 with Syrian Refugees

Ahmad Yousaf, MD

This is my third post about my trip to the Zaatari Refugee camp in Jordan with the Syrian American Medical Society (SAMS). I will continue to share my daily journal entries with you in hopes of educating the American medical and nonmedical communities about what I saw, erasing the irrational fears that have guided the discussion […]

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January 29th, 2016

Zaatari: Day 2 with Syrian Refugees

Ahmad Yousaf, MD

This is my second post about my trip to the Zaatari Refugee camp in Jordan with the Syrian American Medical Society (SAMS). I will continue to share my daily journal entries with you in hopes of educating the American medical and nonmedical communities about what I saw, erasing the irrational fears that have guided the discussion […]

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January 22nd, 2016

Today’s Medical Care — A Trap for the Sick and Elderly ?

Andrew Ip, MD

One of the great things about serving as chief resident this year is the opportunity to attend wards.  Below is a short story about a patient that was admitted to my team for less than 1 hour, but whose impact on me will last the rest of my career: In November, I had the privilege to […]

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December 15th, 2015

Frequent Flier

Ahmad Yousaf, MD

The name of the patient has been changed to preserve his privacy. “Donald passed away.” We had been sitting in the chiefs’ office with a few of the attendings who had all had Donald on their service at one time or another. Everybody exhaled a collective sigh, soaking in the sting of the knowledge of Don’s death; then, […]

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November 13th, 2015

Procedural Competency

Briana Buckner, MD

It’s 2 am, and the patient’s blood pressure is beginning to rapidly decrease. Every IV line is occupied by an antibiotic or IV fluids, and we are in need of a vasoactive medication. The nurse comes to my computer and sternly states, “We can no longer avoid it. I think the patient needs a central […]

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