Month: August 2024
Need extra board exam preparation? Try Chat GPT…
By Alicia Podwojniak M4 Everyone has mixed opinions about Chat GPT and other forms of artificial intelligence. When the concept began to gain traction last year, I found myself viewing it in a negative light. I distinctly remember a friend teasing me about how Chat GPT would soon take away all our jobs. She even pointed out that it had passed the USMLE Step exams, which triggered a defensive response from me. The idea of a robot passing an exam that I, and many others, had stressed over for years made me quickly dismiss the notion. A few months later, I had a change of heart. I realized that AI was not just a passing trend but rather, becoming a substantial presence in our lives. I felt like I was being stubborn and resistant to change, much like my parents during the tech boom of the early 2000s. I understood...
Crying Over Spilled Milk
Special Edition for National Breastfeeding Awareness Month Marjorie Liggett, MD When my newborn wasn’t gaining weight in the first week of life, I became obsessed with my milk supply. I couldn’t stop the racing thought: Am I failing as a mother because I can’t feed my own child? I’ll admit, that was a little dramatic. Blame the hormones and the sleep deprivation, if you must, but I’m sure someone else reading this knows exactly what I’m talking about. Throughout my maternity leave, I diligently pumped and breastfed every 2-3 hours, day and night. Eventually, after a lot of hard work, I felt confident in my milk supply and my goal to breastfeed for 6 months or more. The baby was gaining weight, the anxieties I had around feeding my child began to subside, and I even had generated a moderate freezer stash for a rainy day. As I prepared to...
Cultivating Self-Compassion
By Laura Roe StevensBrought to you by our partners at Canyon Ranch Ever wonder how some people seem to sail through tough times, while others struggle for years? Experts say one key to a person’s strength and resilience is something rarely spoken of: a dose of self-compassion. “Self-compassion is a way of relating to ourselves in times of suffering that enables increased kindness and decreased self-judgment,” says Jaimie Mudd, MDiv, MC, PCC, spiritual wellness provider at Canyon Ranch. “When we’re able to be kind to ourselves and lighten up on self-criticism, it allows each of us to be honest without being harsh. We can have our unique experience, while also connecting to the larger human experience of loss, failure, pain, and healing,” she says. Jaimie’s advice is not solely based on her training and education. It’s deeply rooted in experience and recent losses. “This year I have experienced profound loss...
Fragile – Ah not any more!
By: Dr Swathy Elangovan It is really appreciable to realize how far we have come as women in this competitive world. Balancing professional and personal life for a woman surgeon is indeed challenging. There is a famous quote which says ‘“the profession chooses us.” Nothing matches the feeling of being in the OR performing surgeries. Despite the long work hours and time away from family, the adrenaline rush coupled with the sense of satisfaction of saving someone's life is something only a surgeon can experience. Challenging aspects faced by women surgeons in their field include: opportunities for scrubbing in leadership roles, cumbersome learning curves etc. Unless you have a good teacher who identifies your full potential and trains you to the best of your ability, it's difficult for you to come up. I would like to share one of my personal experience with a patient. It was a sunny day....
From Scalpels to Swaddles: Unexpected Joys and Life Lessons Learned in Neonatology
By: Denise Nemeth Pediatrics has never been my forte. As a former Physician Assistant accustomed to adult care, the prospect of caring for neonates filled me with apprehension. No one really tells you how difficult it can be to navigate rotations. It is like having a new job each month. Each rotation: an unknown. With each rotation comes a new attending, new residents, a new building, new rules, and new expectations. Only those in medicine know what third year of medical school is truly like. During clinical clerkships you are expected to switch specialties monthly while mastering the learning curve within the first day, lest you be deemed the “slow one”. I can hold my own. I am a fast learner and can find my way through unspoken rules and new environments. But this time it was different. I was about to go into the world of tiny humans. The...