Damage Report: First Semester Postmortem
I don’t want to admit that medical school is tough for me. I want to be a natural at this. I want to devour my schoolwork and never satisfy my thirst for more.
Preclinical
Contributing Writer
Rocky Vista University College of Osteopathic Medicine
Jake is a first-year student at Rocky Vista University. He enjoys reading, weightlifting, and writing about himself in third person.
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Intubation Made Difficult
It was a Friday afternoon in the middle of October during my second year of medical school. I, along with my classmates, was preparing to complete our formal graded “check-off” for intubation.
Telegenetics, Patient-Centered Medical Homes and the Role of Primary Care Providers
It has become more and more evident with time that the health care delivery system in the United States is riddled with issues, which have led to many disagreements about policy because there is no clear and universally acceptable solution to our problems.
Fitting My White Coat
I breathed in and out, in and out, in and out, trying to slow my heart rate. Countless hours of preparation had led to this day: the day when I would get the honor of donning the white coat that characterized the profession I was about to enter.
Prognosis
Before long, I will become, to my patients, a keeper of time. With my long white coat will come the privilege of speaking to a patient who is learning what it means to have limited time left.
Learning The Textbook Case
Staring at each high-yield line in First Aid, attempting to commit every word to memory, hour-upon-hour, is the life of a medical student. The stress, isolation and over-caffeination, amidst the constant influx of information, is overwhelming and can cause even the most compassionate student to forget why they are studying.
Paying it Forward: Top 5 Takeaways from Medical School So Far
Earlier this month, I watched my younger sister begin her medical school journey as she walked on stage in front of family members and peers to be officially “white-coated.” I had never been to another white coat ceremony since my own years ago. It was fascinating to observe it from my now-more-seasoned fourth-year medical student eyes — especially at another institution.
Gray
Humans understand things in contradictory pairs. We are not standing still if we’re moving. To move to a new place means leaving behind another.
Moment of Connection
Law, medicine, and dentistry — these were the careers that I was constantly exposed to at home. With my father as a practicing lawyer for over 25 years, two of my siblings already qualified as doctors, and the third on course to completing his medical journey, most of my relatives and friends thought medicine or law would be my choice naturally.
Differentials
“From now on,” our deans told us at orientation, “society will see you as a doctor. Sometimes you may not feel like one, but that is what you are becoming. This week marks the beginning of that transition, which will continue in the months and years to come.”
What Does It Mean Now?
And what does it mean now? To be accepted? To be initiated, congratulated and nudged toward a curriculum made jokingly infamous by well-meaning administrators and by a culture which treats such consuming endeavors as medical school like abstract forms of busyness?
Redefining Treatment: Shifting Our Understanding of Our Patients’ Needs
Most of us enter medical school with a desire to affect change for our patients in meaningful and positive ways. Despite being aware of the impossibility of achieving this dream in every case, we hope to provide our patients with definitive diagnoses and successful treatment plans.
Contributing Writer
Wayne State University School of Medicine
Tabitha Moses is a fifth-year MD/PhD Candidate at Wayne State University School of Medicine. She grew up in England and moved to Baltimore to complete her B.A in Cognitive Science and Philosophy and M.S. in Biotechnology at Johns Hopkins University. She is passionate about policy and advocating for her patients. She is currently working on her PhD in Translational Neuroscience focusing on the effects of stress on people with opioid use disorder as well as working to improve addiction medicine education. After graduating medical school, she would like to pursue a career as a physician-scientist in addiction psychiatry.
