Insights on Residency Training

July 28th, 2022

10 Tips for July (and Beyond)

Madiha Khan, DO

For new trainees, starting July in the ICU can be the steepest of all learning curves, because the patient acuity and workflow can be overwhelming. The same is true for new fellows, I’ve found, as I started this month in the CCU. Although it is the same unit I worked in twice before as a […]

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May 18th, 2022

Will Interviews Stay Virtual? Hopefully, Yes.

Madiha Khan, DO

About 10 minutes into my virtual fellowship interview, I hear a whimper from under the desk. Confusion turns quickly into panic as I feel the tiny paws of my puppy grab at me for attention, and I realize she has somehow escaped her playpen and sneaked into my interview room. I try to keep my […]

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April 5th, 2022

#MedTwitter: The Good, the Bad, and the Surprisingly Useful

Madiha Khan, DO

“Does this look professional enough for Twitter?” My co-resident holds up her phone to show me her newly minted Twitter profile. A picture of a distant, shadowy figure in sand, framed by a circular thumbnail, is her profile picture. Underneath this vague portrait is what could only be presumed to be her twitter handle: her initials […]

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September 3rd, 2020

“Never Waste a Crisis”: Perspectives from History and Today

Holland Kaplan, MD

The mantra “Never waste a crisis” has stuck with me for the past several months. This statement was reportedly made by Winston Churchill in the 1940s, during World War II. However, a well-known internal medicine faculty member and leader at Baylor College of Medicine, Dr. David Hyman, who recently passed away, also gave us this […]

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May 27th, 2020

Virtual Residency Recruitment in the Time of COVID

Prarthna Bhardwaj, MD

COVID-19 has undeniably altered life as we know it. As if getting into residency wasn’t hard enough already, COVID has made it a notch harder. Graduate Medical Education across the nation is preferably adopting video interviews for a virtual residency recruitment. This noncontact change was further endorsed by the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC). What […]

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April 11th, 2019

The Nephrology Social Media Collective

Justin Davis, MBBS

Thinking back on it now, I can’t quite recall why I first decided to get a Twitter account. My suspicion is that I wanted to follow the amusing tweets of Jim Sterling who works in the videogame industry and whose work I closely follow. What did happen, of course, is that I eventually realised that, […]

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November 4th, 2016

From the Prescription Pad to Reality

April Edwards, MD

A harsh reality I am coming to terms with, as a newly minted “pre-tending,” is that we don’t know the cost of the care we provide. There are recommendations for things like High Value Care, from organizations like the ACP. But how much do things actually cost? Certain apps and websites, like the Healthcare Bluebook, give […]

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September 12th, 2016

EpiPens Should Be Less Expensive

Kashif Shaikh, MD

This basic lifesaving medication is cheap to produce. It should not be a way to make a billion dollar profit. Should EpiPens be inexpensive and available? I say yes, and here are my reasons. I am not going to blame Shkreli or Bresch for trying to make money; it’s the system of silence and inaction that I blame.  Money, power, corruption, and political influence are the […]

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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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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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