Opinions

Delaney Osborn Delaney Osborn (4 Posts)

Writer-in-Training

The Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth

I am a first year medical student at Dartmouth and currently loving the rural New England lifestyle that I signed up for. I graduated from the College of William and Mary in 2013 where I majored in neuroscience and minored in philosophy. I also have a Masters in philosophy of medicine from King's College London. My interests include bioethics, end of life care, and neuroscience. When I am not hitting the books I can be found running, sailing, re-reading Harry Potter, singing to Taylor Swift, or snapping pictures.




Welcome to the Future of (Affordable) Care

Published by Delaney Osborn

On a late March day in 2010, President Barack Obama signed the Affordable Care Act into law. For many Americans, it was a day of celebration as they would finally be able to get the healthcare they needed at a price they could afford. For others it was a day of frustration and confusion, because even from the beginning it was apparent that this plan was not perfect. Over the past six years we have watched the success and failures of the bill as it was slowly put into action. In that time more than 20 million people have gained health insurance.

My Grandpa’s Socks

Published by Jack Penner

Whenever I go to the hospital, I wear my grandpa’s socks. They looked distinguished on an older man, but a little childish on a me, a 25-year-old medical student. I’m okay with that. Feeling like an overdressed kid on Easter helps to balance the overwhelming pressure of becoming a physician.

National Human Trafficking Awareness Month: Four Health Problems of Trafficking Survivors That Are Not STDs

Published by Preeti Panda

When many people hear about human trafficking and health care, they usually think about sexual health: sexually transmitted diseases, pregnancy, and so forth. However, the health problems of trafficking survivors are much more vast and complex. It is also important to note that not all trafficking survivors are trafficked for sex.

A Doctor’s Worth

Published by Aleksandra Bacewicz

It was a tangent during conversation, but I felt my jaw tighten as soon as I heard it. Proposed changes, increase in work hours, for the good of the patients and of the doctors too. It was a Friday evening as I was working on a project with colleagues. As we scuttled toward a new topic, my thoughts were heavy and my hands, anxious. A friend brought up the proposed revisions concerning medical interns’ work hours the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education is pushing to a vote in February. ACGME is looking to raise the number of hours that can be worked consecutively by medical interns from 16 to 24 hours, plus an extra four for patient handoffs.

For the Love of Theater

Published by Delaney Osborn

Theater, however, has given me more than just fun memories from my childhood. Its life lessons are ones that I have held onto my whole life and have directly impacted my path towards medicine. In fact, I believe that everyone, especially future physicians, should participate in theater not only because it can be a very rewarding extra curricular, but also because it can give you specific skills, such as the ones outlined below, to use later in your practice.

Reflections from the Waiting Room

Published by Ali Mientus

My friend sat dutifully by my side in the squeaky plastic chairs of the emergency department waiting room. She tried her best to subtly come up with conversation ideas to keep me talking; our misguided belief in the old wives’ tale about keeping a person with a concussion awake showed how much more we had to learn.

Burn Bright, Not Out

Published by Lauren Navitsky

As medical students, we are familiar with the Triple Aim for health care improvement in the United States — to improve the patient care experience, improve the health of populations, and reduce the per capita costs of healthcare. While the move towards a quality-focused and patient-centered health system is encouraging in many ways, it cannot be accomplished by a workforce of burned out and jaded professionals.

Married in Medical School: Our Experience

Published by Eric Cotter

Medical school can be an overwhelming journey for many students as the pace, quantity of content, and work hours far exceeds even the most prepared students’ expectations. The overall demand of medical school makes having a “normal life” very challenging; that is, the ability to attend happy hours or frequent social events, see local professional teams play or cultivate hobbies all become difficult to orchestrate between the endless pages of reading or practice UWorld questions.

National Human Trafficking Awareness Month: Your Somaticizing Patient Could Have Been Trafficked

Published by Preeti Panda

In the five years that have passed since I met the 14-year-old girl who opened my eyes to the terrible crime of sex trafficking in the United States, much has changed. We have made strides in state and federal legislation to protect survivors, national human trafficking prevention months have been declared, and victims are no longer treated as criminals.

The Top Ten Moments of 2016 in the Fight for Universal Health Care

Published by Vanessa Van Doren

Debate about some of the most pressing issues facing our country were lost in the horse race of the 2016 presidential campaign. Among those issues was healthcare. While millions of Americans received health coverage under the Affordable Care Act, an estimated 30 million remain uninsured and medical bills continue to be the leading cause of bankruptcy in the United States.

Vanessa Van Doren Vanessa Van Doren (1 Posts)

Contributing Writer

Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine

Vanessa Van Doren is a medical student at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio. She is a Student Board Representative of Physicians for a National Health Program and a leader and co-founder of Case Western’s Students for a National Health Program chapter. She is also the Health Policy Committee Leader for Case’s chapter of the American Medical Student Association and has held leadership positions in Case’s student chapters of Doctors for America, Universities Allied for Essential Medicines, and White Coats 4 Black Lives. Vanessa received her BA in anthropology in 2007 from Brown University and worked as a genetics researcher for seven years before deciding to shift her focus to clinical medicine. She is very interested in coalition building, both among different health policy reform groups and between the single payer movement and other advocates for social justice and equality.