Insights on Residency Training

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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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 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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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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February 17th, 2015

Barriers

Priya Umapathi, M.D.

In an era of near-instantaneous transmission of data, where multi-billion dollar financial transactions are completed in the blink of an eye and where the worldwide web will answer any question in less than 0.19 seconds, communication during patient encounters remains a thorny issue.   One recent afternoon, I saw Mrs. D in the medicine clinic. She […]

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October 6th, 2014

Introducing Myself

Priya Umapathi, M.D.

Hello! I’m excited to have an opportunity to share my adventures, experiences, and opinions from chief year with you. Transitioning between life phases can be traumatic at times, but invariably bears great potential for exponential self–growth. This year, so far, has confirmed that there is indeed much growing to be done! We held a transition event […]

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February 11th, 2014

Do Quality Initiatives and the Patient Safety Movement Threaten Resident Autonomy?

Paul Bergl, M.D.

Recently, our residency program had the excellent fortune of hosting Dr. Bob Wachter as a visiting speaker. Dr. Wachter is considered a pioneer in the hospitalist movement and has built his career around inpatient quality and safety. During lunch with Dr. Wachter, some of our residents, and hospitalist faculty, we discussed the topic of resident […]

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January 8th, 2014

Cancer 2014 — A Modern Spin on a Tragic Diagnosis

Paul Bergl, M.D.

At first glance, no diagnosis seems more terrible than cancer. Although it remains a huge killer in the developed world, cancer has also taken on new meanings in modern medicine. As an ordinary person, I certainly fear the word and would dread the diagnosis. Cancer. It has such a damning and unforgiving ring to it. After […]

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December 11th, 2013

Making Value-Based Decisions About Ordering Tests

Paul Bergl, M.D.

As Dr. David Green reported this week in NEJM Journal Watch, the American Society of Hematology is the latest society to comment on appropriate and cost-conscious care in the ABIM Choosing Wisely campaign. I’ve followed the Choosing Wisely campaign closely and have been using it on the wards and in clinic as academic ammunition. A specialist society’s […]

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