Columnist and in-Training Staff Member
Albany Medical College
Madeline Haas is a graduate of Harvard College and a Class of 2016 student at Albany Medical College in Albany, New York. Cooking keeps her sane and healthy within the limitations of the med school lifestyle and budget. Read her daily blog at The Med School Cookbook.
The Med School Cookbook
The Med School Cookbook offers a weekly account of the challenges and wonders of med school as seen through the eyes of a student. Each post includes a healthy and easy recipe designed for busy people on a budget.
Once again, it was on day four or five of mapping out microorganisms on a giant flowchart that I was struck by an idea that zoomed me out to the scale of human history. On our bodies live bacteria and viruses that we refer to as “normal flora” and with whom we happily coexist. In an oversimplified model, when humans interact with a new organism for the first time, either our immune systems kill it, …
In case you were wondering: Yes, the title of this column is a shameless display of my love for the television show, “Scrubs”. Multiple real MDs have affirmed that “Scrubs” is more true to life than all the other medical television shows — which I can only take to mean that I won’t be judged too badly if I ever yell “Eagleeee” in the middle of the hospital while running in slow motion toward my best …
In contrast to the idealistic chatter of last weekend, my mind lately has been in a bacteria-laden fog that perks up only in reference to pathogens or vectors. These days it’s fungi and caffeine that make me happiest. There has been a lot of caffeine, and around the house, each of us has just made our favorite lazy, unhealthy comfort food: Hamburger Helper, ramen and Annie’s mac and cheese. We could not have planned it better had …
Let’s face it: practicing medicine overseas is pretty sexy. Whether it’s images of Angelina Jolie and Clive Owen in Cambodia, young French physicians working with Doctors Without Borders, or Paul Farmer in Russian prisons that make you think of international medicine, it all seems pretty cool. Oh yeah, we all have an altruistic motive in trying to help solve the perennial ills of tropical disease, unnecessary trauma and emergency cesarean sections, but there is something …
One of the things that I love about science is that you can be immersed in biochemistry and anatomy when suddenly you stumble into something very moving, and you realize that you are at the crux of life and death. Take this preface to a lecture on growth hormone, delivered by a very old man with a thick Czech accent: When you get to the delivery room you will understand what a miracle it is …
The OR is exciting for some, scary for others, and boring for the rest. No matter what you think before going into the OR, there are a few things you need to know to enhance your experience. 1. Show up on time to the procedure. It’s awkward introducing yourself in the middle of the procedure while the surgeon’s head is down and is intensely operating. 2. Find out the type of procedure before attending it …
The year is winding down, and our classmates are getting ready to spend their time at home…studying. Unfortunately for us second-years, the next six weeks will be spent with our noses in First Aid, memorizing each and every word as we study for the most important exam of our careers: Step 1. While most of us will be at home studying for the summer enjoying mom’s home-cooked food and having our laundry taken care of, …
My most recent rotation on internal medicine emphasized the importance of working on a team, which is an integral part of residency. The team not only consists of you, the residents and the attending, but it also includes nurses, social workers, the pharmacist and other consulting teams. Ideally, team members should interact with each other in a professional and respectful manner. It’s even better if the team gets along and enjoys each other’s company. This …
Medical school can be quite challenging and often times stressful. Being second-year medical students ourselves, we face the same trials and tribulations that other students face all over the country. Between the countless hours of lecture that you are still catching up on from the past week and the many textbooks that you are thumbing through just to make sense of your lecturer, we find ourselves not knowing how to exist outside of medical school. …
Believe it or not, but cyclic vomiting syndrome (CVS) is a real diagnosis. I will describe a patient I encountered who fits the classic description. The patient is a male in his 50s who presented to the emergency department with one week of intermittent vomiting and epigastric pain. He has a few of these episodes every year and was diagnosed with CVS during his previous hospitalization, but was unaware of his diagnosis. The current episode …
One day, I was walking across the medical center campus when I suddenly burst out laughing. I couldn’t help it when I saw a white furry dog with a blue bandana wrapped around his neck, from which hung a badge with his name and photo. I was too far away to see his name, but I imagined it to be something like “Buddy.” I wasn’t aware that the medical center used animal therapy, through a …
The sister of a woman recently diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) came to the neurology clinic while I was on rotation there and asked the physician if there was anything else besides riluzole that her sister could use for treatment. Essentially, the doctor responded that there were no other treatments. This sister was inquisitive, though, and pressed further–“I had heard acupuncture might be useful. What do you think?” It couldn’t hurt, the physician replied. She then …
Columnist Emeritus
University of Massachusetts Medical School
Vinny is a Class of 2013 student at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, applying to family medicine residency programs. Passionate about strengthening the body's own healing mechanism, he is invested in learning more about integrative medicine and hopes to practice family medicine in combination with Chinese medicine and osteopathic manipulation therapy in the future. He loves his fiancée dearly and is looking forward to their marriage in May 2013!
