Tag: medical education

Masood Mohammed Masood Mohammed (5 Posts)

Contributing Writer

Nova Southeastern University Kiran Patel College of Osteopathic Medicine

Masood Mohammed is a member of the Class of 2019 at Nova Southeastern University Kiran Patel College of Osteopathic Medicine located in Fort Lauderdale, FL. Masood graduated from the University of Miami with a degree in Biology in 2014. In 2017, Masood founded The Path to Medicine, a brand that helps pre-medical and current medical students achieve their goals of becoming physicians. In his free time Masood enjoys writing, dancing and exploring coffee shops.




Top 5 Misconceptions About Medical School

Published by Masood Mohammed

My first year of medical school is finally over…and it was rough. Then again, that is not too surprising. After all, it is medical school, so no one is expecting a walk in the park. During my first year, a lot of the advice and wisdom I heard from other medical students seemed to match up pretty well. However, there were definitely a few things I heard that I felt did not quite hold true. While this is only my opinion and it may vary from student to student, here are my top five biggest misconceptions about medical school.

Dr. Burnout: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Grind

Published by Kevin Shi

Whenever I hear the word “burnout,” I’m reminded of the ugly, oh-so-dark side of being a medical student, the side that hides in the shadows, away from the prestige and privilege that comes with the noble profession. Maybe it seems like I’m exaggerating; I mean, it’s just me jumping to conclusions when I associate the feelings of being overworked with the days where I can’t seem to find the bright side of anything, right?

Are Women Really Bad Negotiators? Social Darwinism and the Gender Wage Gap in Medicine

Published by Katharine Lawrence, MD

In 2015, the Institute for Women’s Policy Research published an alarming statistic: on average, women made only 79 cents for every dollar earned by men. Even more alarming was the fact that when the study controlled for qualification or stratified by job title, the gender wage gap persisted. Unfortunately, medicine is not immune to the gender wage gap phenomenon. According to data from the US Census Bureau, women make up one-third of US physicians, but on average make only 69 cents for every dollar earned by their male colleagues. This results in over $56,000 in potential wages lost for women in medicine each year.

Perspective Gained: A Call for End-of-Life Care Training in Medical School

Published by Andrew Schneider

In today’s America, it is well documented that each year, more of our GDP is being devoted to healthcare spending, and a disproportionate amount of that healthcare spending is towards end-of-life care. According to a 2013 report from The Medicare NewsGroup, Medicare spending reached about $554 billion in 2011. This was 21 percent of the total spent on health care in the US that year. About 28 percent of that $554 billion — $170 billion — was spent on patients’ last six months of life.

Racial Discrimination as an African-American Medical Student

Published by Tequilla Manning

My recent psychiatry clerkship inspired me to examine racial relations during third-year rotations. This reflection originated from a physician submitting a particularly disturbing evaluation of me. She wrote: “[The student does not] recognize and address personal limitations or behaviors that might affect their effectiveness as a physician … [The student is] defensive, rigid, intense and intrusive; unable to see nuances in human behavior that is necessary for analyses of the human psyche; lower emotional quotient than peers.” Her response left me with an open-jawed, stuporous gaze. I could not believe that she had made this kind of assessment after interacting with me in only two patient encounters for less than half a day!

Doctors Don’t Like Fat People

Published by Annika Burnett

“I could never be a primary care doctor,” my friend and fellow medical student says as she pops a french fry into her mouth. There are five or six of us sitting around a hospital cafeteria table, grabbing a quick lunch between our morning and afternoon lectures. “I mean, seeing fat people with diabetes and heart disease all day. It would just be so frustrating, because they did it to themselves, you know?”

Occupational Physicians as Goaltenders

Published by Deland Weyrauch

I recently had the opportunity to shadow a local occupational medicine physician over spring break. I arrived at his office Monday morning expecting a brief day of clinic, maybe some conversation over lunch; maybe I get lucky and he pays for my sandwich. Within minutes of meeting him, though, the physician offered to host me for the entire week on a “mini-rotation.”

Student Protests Reveal a Systemic Disease

Published by Tehreem Rehman

As medical students, we recognize that bias in medicine is doubly damaging: it burdens our peers and it harms our patients. In the opening narratives we see both of these at play: in Micaela’s self-doubt and frustration, and in the intern’s judgment of their older, Latina patient. Such clinician bias has been increasingly shown to contribute to widespread health inequities.

Poker Face: When Patients Are Dealt Terrible Hands (2016)

Published by David Yu

Like poker, medicine has certain rules — patterns of clinical symptoms and lab findings each correlating with a specific spectrum of prognoses that vary in likelihood, the differential diagnosis. Physicians are like seasoned card players, trained to maintain composure and incorporate numerous variables into logical, calculated decisions at what seems like a “dealer’s table” of outcomes. Sometimes, we hedge our bets that the patient will self-resolve, so we elect not to treat; other times, we act conservatively with a battery of tests and pre-emptive therapy.

Resilience in Medical Education: Defining Burnout and How Role Models Can Help

Published by Rae Dong

Medical school is a notoriously challenging experience during which students undergo tremendous personal change and professional growth. Though the stressors that come along with this are varied and unique to each student’s context and experience, they may be categorized within a few common themes. Harvard psychiatrist Raymond Laurie has previously described the concept of “role strain” with respect to negotiating relationships with their families, friends, partners, peers, attending physicians and patients. Additionally, with regard to students’ concept of themselves, individuals who have high achievement may be challenged in new ways both intellectually and emotionally.

Rae Dong Rae Dong (1 Posts)

Contributing Writer

Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai

Rae Dong is a second year MD student at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. Prior to medical school, Rae studied philosophy and economics at Duke, and worked in global health strategy and management consulting. She is passionate about the intersection of medicine with business to improve health outcomes locally and globally.