Opinions

Nita Chen, MD Nita Chen, MD (39 Posts)

Medical Student Editor and in-Training Staff Member Emeritus

University of Florida Fixel Movement and Neurorestoration Institute

Nita Chen is a current movement disorders fellow at University of Florida Movement and Neurorestoration program. She is Class of 2017 medical student at Albany Medical College. To become cultural, she spent her early educational years in Taiwan and thoroughly enjoyed wonderful Taiwanese food and milk tea, thus ruining her appetite for the rest of her life in the United States. Aside from her neuroscience and cognitive science majors during her undergraduate career, she holed herself up in her room writing silly fictional stories, doodling, and playing the piano. Or she could be found spazzing out like a gigantic science nerd in various laboratories. Now she just holes up in her room to study most of the time.




Book Review: “Reluctant Intern” by Bill Yancey, MD

Published by Nita Chen, MD

Dr. Bill Yancey, MD paints a creative yet candid narrative of young resident Addison Wolfe’s maturation as a physician in his book, “The Reluctant Intern.” Based on his own experiences as a physician, Dr. Yancey constructs a platform of fictional realism grounded in the brutal realities of the culture in medicine whilst coloring it with an appropriate dash of creativity. We accompany Dr. Wolfe through the vicissitudes of his entire residency, highlighted through Dr. Yancey’s elegant …

Declining Blood From Men Who Have Sex With Men: Justified, Inconsistent, or Both?

Published by Will Jaffee, DO

By way of 1992 policy, men who have had sex with men (MSM) any time since 1977 are ineligible for blood donation. We believe the current policy is possibly justified, but certainly inconsistent with other CDC donation policies, and the the American Medical Association and the American Association of Blood Banks appear to agree. Here we will focus primarily on the latter issue, as it pertains to everyone’s health more so than only the degrading feeling that non-infected gay men likely endure when attempting to give lifesaving resources back to their community.

Why We Should Deadlift

Published by Lauren Bland

Every day we do some sort of physical activity, whether we realize it or not. From taking the stairs on rounds, helping to transfer patients or retracting for hours during surgery, all of it could be considered physical activity. With this physical activity there is potential for injury especially if you’re unprepared for it. As someone planning on going into Emergency Medicine, I appreciate the value of being prepared for anything. This week we had …

The Non-Inferiority Complex in Medicine

Published by Daniel Coleman

“You know, the globus pallidus.”  My coaxing words ripened in the air between us.  Josh admitted it sounded familiar, but couldn’t quite remember the time or the place.  This concerned me, because my friend was a highly accomplished emergency physician, yet he wrinkled his nose at “globus pallidus” like it was a piece of decomposing fruit. “It’s in the brain,” I said helpfully. He smiled, “That’s probably why it sounds familiar.” A few hours before, …

Preserving Human Rights as a Medical Student

Published by Emily Grodinsky

Medicine is the career path I have chosen to pursue, and I feel grateful to live in a city I adore while I work in a field I love. I have long taken for granted that I can make choices about where I want my life to go because of the freedoms I have in this country, because of my family and friends’ support, and because of the resources that are available to me. Ultimately, …

Food for Health: Why Hospital Food Shouldn’t Be a Punch Line

Published by Katharine Caldwell

There’s no one moment I remember distinctly when I realized my love for cooking. Cooking has been part of me for as long as I can remember: recipes have long since been abandoned for the spontaneity of Thursday night creations. Tuesdays have become an excuse to make cookies. For my family, like for many, the kitchen was the center of our house. Maybe my love of cooking came early, sitting on the floor in my parent’s apartment banging …

medical cannabis

Medical Cannabis in Context: Brain Function

Published by Arielle Gerard

One of the most contentious issues in the debate on medical cannabis concerns the effect of medical cannabis on the brain. Understanding the harms of medical cannabis in relation to the harms produced by conditions which may be ameliorated by its use is vital to understanding its viability as a treatment. For example, the side effect of mild short term memory loss may be vastly outweighed by the boon of its anti-emetic and anti-nausea properties for a cancer patient. …

Why It’s an Exciting Time in Medicine: The Medical Student Perspective

Published by Tony Davis-Maxwell

Between the costly flights to interviews, the awkward nights spent sleeping on a host student’s futon, and the anxiety-filled hours doing what felt like selling myself to admissions committees, I reminded myself that eventually this would all lead me to the bedside, where I would be able to help real patients. I was lucky that I had a supportive network of people who were encouraging; however, with health care having become such a politicized and even toxic …

The Ethics of Denying Non-Emergent Care

Published by Candace Borders

Any threat to the celebrated individualism of American citizens is usually met with fierce debate — be the enemy mandatory health coverage or a ban on 64-ounce sugary soft drinks. What happens, then, when the results of these individual choices conflicts with the limitations of reality? Obesity was categorized as a disease by the American Medical Association only one year ago but in many ways it defies such neat classification. In the AMA’s own statement …

medical cannabis

Medical Cannabis Made Simple

Published by Arielle Gerard

Does cannabis work as a treatment for some symptoms or conditions? Yes. Has research been conducted to prove that? Yes, more than many people think. High-quality scientific evidence (in the United States and abroad) has been conducted on medical cannabis, showing its efficacy for varying symptoms and conditions, such as neuropathic pain and symptoms of multiple sclerosis, such as spasticity and sleep disturbance. Double-blinded placebo controlled studies and observational studies (including many case studies) have …

For-Profit and Non-Profit Hospitals: What are the Differences?

Published by Corey Meador

By recognizing the important distinction between for-profit hospitals and non-profits, a medical student can better define his/her own beliefs on how care should be administered and made available to patients. My investigation into the difference between these types of hospitals has surprised me in many ways. It also helped me address my own concerns about whether a profit should be made on providing health care. The conversations I had with Michael Halter, a CEO at …

Corey Meador (3 Posts)

Contributing Writer

Drexel University College of Medicine

Corey is a Class of 2017 medical student at the Drexel University College of Medicine.