Insights on Residency Training

December 18th, 2015

Morbidity and Mortality

Ahmad Yousaf, MD

He nervously shifted in his position in front of the audience of his peers. His voice was a little shaky, and the few words trying to escape his lips were chewed and swallowed. He was narrating a case in which a colleague’s sense of urgency, or rather, her lack thereof, likely negatively affected his patient. She […]

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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 27th, 2015

A Generation of Softies

Ahmad Yousaf, MD

I watch as my almost-2-year-old daughter awkwardly climbs the stairs. I do not hold her hand, but I do not turn my back on her either. She is still clumsy, and her little bowed legs often miss their targeted landing spots. She holds on to the rail with a vice grip that steadies each monumental […]

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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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October 23rd, 2015

Musings from Japan

Gregory Shumer, MD

I spent the first two weeks of October in rural Shizuoka, Japan, rotating through clinics and hospitals in Mori-machi and Kikugawa, and observing medical education at Hamamatsu Medical School.  The University of Michigan Department of Family Medicine has a unique and positive relationship with the Shizuoka Family Medicine residency program that allows for collaboration.  I […]

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October 9th, 2015

We Were a Wreck, but the Baby Was Fine

Ahmad Yousaf, MD

I dropped the little booger off at daycare today. I was over-prepared, and the nanny’s face said it all, “this is your first time, huh?” It was. Before this, Safiya was being taken care of by her loving grandmothers and a wonderful nanny that was literally like family. But now she is almost 2, the […]

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September 25th, 2015

More Work Hours, More Strokes?

Andrew Ip, MD

Do doctors work too much? Residents would probably say “Yes! I’m burnt out,” and supplement it with some form of “I’d much rather work less.” Outside of residency, the answer may be a mix of yes, no, and maybe. Recently, Lancet published a meta-analysis on work hours and its effect on incident coronary disease and stroke. The study showed that […]

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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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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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September 4th, 2015

Time Flies

Raktim Ghosh, MD

We are approaching another September 15. This date is probably the second-most important in the U.S. residency application and selection season; the most important is obviously the match day. But, on September 15, residency applicants can start sending their applications to Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) accredited programs through Electronic Residency Application Service, and programs can […]

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