“We will cease all remaining clerkships. Please thank your preceptors, collect your things, return home, and practice social distancing.” The email’s words were disappointing, but not surprising. Other medical schools had already pull…
Category: Medical school
It’s them, not you: the journey of applying to medical school
I hopped out of the elevator and looked at my watch. I was 20 minutes early. My heart was pounding in my ears, and my brain felt suddenly disconnected. I was standing outside of the office of a prestigious surgeon in a prestigious hospital, waiting to …
Why medical students should be taught the business side of medicine
The field of medicine is always changing. In fact, half of what students learn in medical school will either be wrong or outdated five years after they graduate. As future physicians, medical students must learn to adapt to these changes. In fact, the …
Declaring racism as a public health crisis from the lens of two Latinx student doctors
“I often heard as a child that Mexicans were lazy and dirty. As a Mexican-American, I did not wear shorts for years despite the heat because I thought my knees looked dirty. Now I fully embrace my identity. However, as a medical student, I still feel t…
A medical educator shares his love for medicine [PODCAST]
“Each patient I have seen over these four decades has made me a better doctor. Books do not impact long term memory the way a real patient can. I once heard the chair of medicine at a teaching hospital say that the worst thing about being on call…
Pearls and pitfalls for medical students entering their clinical years
Transitioning from the classroom to the wards is an uncertain and anxiety-provoking time for many medical students. Schedules are constantly changing, as are expectations and learning objectives. Mentorship and advice from upperclassmen, residents, and…
Why cultural competency courses should be requisites for medical school
Like many others, I have felt immense frustration in the past couple of weeks. The news surrounding the Black Lives Matter movement, compounded by many other incidents of injustice against minorities, has made me feel constant rage at the society we li…
The role of medical education in perpetuating health care disparities
Black bodies are dying, and medical schools are partially to blame. Never did I imagine that I would come to the realization that as a medical student; I was being trained and conditioned to identify and treat conditions predominately in white people….
4 resolutions for a new academic year
With a flip of a calendar page, the new academic year is upon us. For much of the workforce, July 1st signifies the halfway point of the fiscal year, and most Americans would say that each new year starts on January 1st. However, those of us in academi…
AAMC’s video interview tool for admissions is poised to introduce further bias to medical school admissions
Recently, the AAMC announced its partnership with HireVue’s video interviewing platform to introduce the Video Interview Tool for Admissions (VITA), an online, one-way recorded interview without a human interviewer. The candidate is shown several text …
