From a new attending and the former resident and fellow physician union president, congratulations on starting your residency! You’ve dedicated decades of your life to medicine, and your years of studying and extracurricular achievement have brou…
Category: Residency
Top 10 things new interns should do
New resident physicians who have earned their MD degrees will be heading to hospitals to start their residencies during the last two week in June and the first week in July. What can a beginning doctor do during the first month of internship to get his…
I married an MD
Recognizing accomplishments and a ticket to residency: That was Match Day. But now, at the doorstep of the next challenge, you’d better take a hard look at your most important personal relationship. That is, if you want to keep your good thing together…
The health care system will cause its own physician shortage
A quarter of a million dollars — that’s the amount of debt the average medical student in the United States owes after completing medical school. After all the late nights studying, the endless exams and selfless sacrifice, it’s human natur…
Receiving feedback and critique is a complicated art
In the mid 16th century, surgical education was that of a true apprenticeship. The student learned through direct observership and imitation of a skilled, elder surgeon. It wasn’t until the beginning of the 20th century that surgical education ev…
Residency interviews and the inner muse [PODCAST]
“Have you ever wondered how many times death has not come, but could have? On the corner of Church Street and Dubuque how close was I, pausing to assess an ice-sheeted puddle just before a woman turns, her head turned too, searching for what? A s…
International medical graduates ease the U.S. doctor shortage
Thousands of young doctors just learned where they’ll be spending the next few years of their lives in residency. A significant number of them will be U.S. citizens who completed medical school abroad. This corps of internationally educated docto…
Happy Doctor’s Day. What was this all for?
Happy Doctor’s Day. Every year, eager young pre-med students apply for medical school. When they don’t make it in and are quite determined, they apply to schools on a few Caribbean islands. They teach the same material, the same practical s…
Residency doesn’t have to be a war
This summer is supposed to be my turn to start residency in the States. I hear enough about work-life balance; but have mostly seen residents push the limits of what could be considered a human existence because it’s known: If you don’t wor…
Let’s talk residency: COVID edition
It is 2022, and the COVID-19 pandemic is still unrelenting, with no end in sight. Health care workers have been challenged mentally, physically, and emotionally. Sadly, some may never fully understand the struggles of many medical professionals, especi…
