Insights on Residency Training

September 27th, 2016

Interview Season

Joseph Cooper, MD

It’s that time again — time to dust off your nicest suit and prepare for either residency or fellowship interviews. Being knee-deep in interview season for Infectious Diseases fellowships, my interview days bear some resemblance to my residency interviews, yet also are quite different. I have a unique opportunity this year to be a part of the recruitment and decision […]

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August 29th, 2016

Multiple Choice Medicine

Amanda Breviu, MD

You are currently on inpatient wards and notice your chief medical resident has been demonstrating erratic behavior, frequently muttering about MEN syndromes and antibodies associated with rheumatologic diseases and has been reciting gene translocations. What is the most likely cause of her symptoms? A. Hospital-associated delirium B. Conversion disorder. C. Symptoms related to completing an excess number of multiple […]

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April 8th, 2016

The Costs of Being a Doctor

Ahmad Yousaf, MD

I start this article with a disclaimer: I am not here to comment on the decreasing salaries of physicians or the knowledge that I will never get paid the way the prior generation of doctors got paid. It is hard for me (and the American public) to feel bad for anybody making more than $200K […]

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December 29th, 2015

Holiday Reflection

Briana Buckner, MD

Once a year, we have this very exciting period of time filled with holiday fun. The holidays bring families together, children get excited for Santa Claus, and the parking lots of malls make you think really hard about every gift you are seeking to buy. Despite all this excitement, the holidays can mean something a tad […]

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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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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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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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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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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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