Insights on Residency Training

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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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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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 12th, 2016

What Have I Learned as a Chief Resident?

Raktim Ghosh, MD

At my institution, next academic year’s chief residency application email was sent out last week. The APDIM spring meeting for chief residents and program administrator is going to be held in Las Vegas in April 2016. The 2016 chief residents need to be selected before that meeting. That e-mail brought a flashback memory for me. I met Charleen […]

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February 5th, 2016

Don’t Give Up!

Gregory Shumer, MD

There comes a time in most people’s training when adversity threatens to become overwhelming and swallow them whole. It could be as a medical student, while spending countless hours in the library or when on demanding rotations. Or, it could be during residency, from the 80-hour work weeks or the stressful patient care situations. It […]

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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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January 15th, 2016

Zaatari: Day 0–1

Ahmad Yousaf, MD

“I am going to a Syrian refugee camp.” The words came out of my mouth without hesitation, and my wife’s reaction is exactly what I expected… She already knew. After 5 years of marriage and 8 years of being stuck with me, she knew how I was going to react when I saw the medical mission […]

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