medical students
The Intersection of Race and Gender in Surgery
By Mohini Dasari In light of February being Black History Month, I was inspired to write about the intersection of race and gender in surgery. As a woman of color currently applying to surgical residency programs, the issues of diversity and gender have been on my mind for quite some time. While diversity can also refer to socioeconomic status, religion and sexual orientation, I will be focusing on one definition of diversity: race/ethnicity. Why does race matter? Do we live in a post-racial society, where we can all identify together under broader terms such as “women”? Can all women identify under the single label of “women in surgery” within a traditionally male-dominated field? While I would like to say yes, for the sake of unity, I must say “yes and no.” Whenever I go to national meetings, or when I was on the interview trail, I usually count how many...
The Osteopathic Match Day
By Aileen Larson and Grace DeHoff Every spring, fourth year medical students anxiously await “Match Day”. Students in both allopathic (MD) and osteopathic (DO) programs submit a rank list of their favorite residency programs and order them according to their preference. Residency programs also create a list of their top students and rank them accordingly. For allopathic medical students, Match Day is typically the third Friday in March. Every February, osteopathic medical students also await their fate in a similar match algorithm. This year the DO Match Day is held on February 6th, 2017. As an osteopathic student, there are many choices to make when applying for residency programs. While the MD match is open to both MD and DO students, the DO match is exclusively for DO students and organized under the American Osteopathic Association (AOA) National Matching Services Inc. A student may decide to attempt the match only...
To Look in the Mirror and Not See Further than My Neck
By: Natalie Tully January is Thyroid Cancer Awareness Month. As you may have read in an earlier blog post, thyroid cancer is the most prevalent cancer in young women under 25. This is the story of one of those young women. It was June of 2011, and I had just come home to Pennsylvania for summer vacation after completing my sophomore year at the University of Texas (and finally passing organic chemistry). In an effort to get back in shape for our family beach vacation (and after six months of eating like a nineteen-year-old college student does), I went out for a bike ride. Naturally, I was drenched in sweat when I got home and decided to give my mom a sweaty hug-a move she wasn’t exactly keen on. As we play-fought, I turned my head to the side and instantaneously, she went from mom to nurse. She saw a...
Never overdressed
A resident’s perspective on dressing for success By: Danielle Henry The New Year brings new goals and personal improvement is always on the list of priorities. This month we are exploring the impact of professional attire on professional and personal achievement. Oscar Wilde once said, “You can never be overdressed or overeducated.” I have taken this to mean, you should never stop learning and can never be overdressed when you look your best. We are in a profession where we are always learning, and even though we wear scrubs often, we can still find ways to look our best. Ditch the scrubs when you can - When given the option to wear something other than scrubs, I always take the opportunity. One example is when I am presenting at the Morbidity and Mortality (M&M) conference I will often wear business professional attire. It is not required at my institution, however...
Dressing Your Best, Inside Out
By: Natalie Tully Every year after the post-midnight New Year’s celebrations wind down, we each start the all-too familiar process of declaring resolutions for the coming twelve months. In that spirit, I hope to explore ideas (most old, but perhaps a few you haven’t heard) and encourage some of you to put on your best self in 2017- mind, body, and wardrobe. Dressing your best-literally Fair warning: most of my clothing is sportswear and I prefer the DMV and the Dentist to going clothes shopping. That said, this is something I struggle with but have found strategies that result in me feeling more confident in professional situations without excessive strain. Err on the Conservative-Yes, you’ve heard this ad nauseum, but no matter your career stage or if it’s an interview, clinic, or social event, you never want your clothing to distract from you. If you question your outfit’s appropriateness, either...
The Road to Wellness
By Jaime Lewis The road to wellness is often less than straight and narrow. Some stretches are full of potholes and construction barriers, causing delays, requiring tolls and taxes for passage, while other sections are smoothly paved, wide open, and headed straight into the sunset. However the journey proceeds I have found it is peppered with choices and opportunities to make myself a little happier, a bit healthier, and perhaps a little more “well”. Some moments it’s a choice of how to respond or react, how to understand my own emotions, or how to interpret the actions of another. Other days it’s making the choice to eat the healthier meal, to run the extra mile, to play with my children, or in my professional sphere- to finish up my charts, respond to a committee request, or spend a few extra moments with a resident. Recently I have worked to formulate...
Residency Applications: The Curriculum Vitae
By Mary Brandt This article originally appeared on Dr. Brandt's blog, the wellnessrounds. Other than the personal statement, there is nothing more distressing to medical students applying for a residency than putting together a Curriculum Vitae (CV). So, what exactly is a CV? “The original Latin meaning of curriculum was a course, but of the kind that one runs around (it came from currere, to run). Even more recent — dating from 1902 — is curriculum vitae, literally “the course of one’s life” (from World Wide Words) Your curriculum vitae is a document that serves as a summary of what you have accomplished as a professional. What’s the difference between my CV and what I put on my ERAS application? Your CV and what you put in ERAS differ in two important ways – the content and the format. ERAS will generate a CV from the information you enter, but...
Beyond the Basics of Tweeting
By Heather Yeo As we continue to explore social media in academic and clinical medicine at AWS this month we wanted to create a practical guide for physician clinicians and researchers interested in tweeting at academic meetings or participating in a tweet chat. This goes slightly above the twitter basics. For beginners, we recommend you also check out some social media guidelines and best practices. Why participate in live tweeting a meeting? Information sharing/learning When you are at a conference with multiple presentations of interest, you cannot be in two rooms at once, twitter allows you to monitor what is being presented in other sessions. The benefit of twitter is having access to multiple presentations virtually, when you can only attend one room in reality. Twitter’s short 140 characters allow for easy spread of simple messages – like most headlines. To understand full research, you may still need to review...
An Open Letter to Young Women Considering a Career in Surgery
This post originally appeared in Hot Heels, Cool Kicks, & a Scalpel Dear Young Woman Considering a Career in Surgery, It was lovely to meet you the other day. Many times a month, a young woman just like you comes to me with similar interests and concerns. “I really love surgery,” she says, ” But I am afraid of the lifestyle and I really want to have a family.” Oh, and thank you for also inviting me to speak at your seminar the other day on Women in Traditionally Male Dominated Fields. I have been speaking at similar panel sessions since 2005 when I was a bit of a novelty at my training program as a clinical PGY-4 with an infant daughter. Your collective curiosity on what my life must be like is of great interest to me because to me it’s just my life. It’s the only reality that...
Physician, Heal Thyself: Recognizing and Understanding Burnout
By Gabrielle Rieth This topic seems particular relevant and timely for me and my classmates, as we are currently in the happy limbo-land that our school dubs “Research Block.” It takes place following our second year of medical school, sitting for the USMLE Step 1 examination, and just prior to beginning our tenure as mini-docs in the arduous final two “clinical” years of our undergraduate medical education. On some level, I anticipated what I’d find when I began researching this topic. The concepts of self-care, emotional welfare, and professional burnout are hot-button issues in the medical world. In April, Surgeon General Vivek Murthy brought it to national attention in an interview at the annual meeting of the Association of Health Care Journalists. The culture of medicine was documented on the well-known website, Humans of New York. A student at another medical school shared a candid commentary on her struggles with...
