Match Day Spotlight 2016: Pathology, Round 2
Diane Brackett, a recent fourth-year medical student who matched to Massachusetts General Hospital for pathology, gives us her expert advice on succeeding in medical school and beyond.
Tag: medical student lifestyle
Medical Student Editor
University of Toledo College of Medicine and Life Sciences
I'm Sandy Tadros and I'm a 2015 graduate of Washington University of St. Louis with a kind-of strange major in philosophy-neuroscience-psychology. I currently attend The University of Toledo College of Medicine and Life Sciences in the class of 2019. I spent an interesting two years working for the Writing Center at WashU's campus and am exploring a career as a physician-journalist.
In my free time I watch way too much Netflix, and I love cooking.
Match Day Spotlight 2016: OB/GYN, Round 1
Samantha Margulies, a recent fourth-year medical student who matched to Yale-New Haven Hospital for obstetrics and gynecology, gives us her expert advice on succeeding in medical school and beyond.
Adventure #2: Pottery Painting (No Art Skills Required!)
A very important topic is that of mental health in medical practitioners, notably medical students. According to a study in the Student British Medical Journal, 30% of medical students report having a mental health condition — with a majority of 80% stating the level of available support was poor or only moderately adequate. This column was born from these alarming statistics and aims to stimulate conversation on mental health in medical students, from providing suggestions on how to maintain one’s mental health to discussing the taboo and stigma surrounding conversations on mental health in practitioners and students, and how to eliminate it.
Adventure #1: Not Your Mother’s Yoga Class
It should be no surprise that when I asked my fellow medical students their suggestions for ways to de-stress, one of the first answers I heard from all of them was: “Yoga.” I should admit that I have always been a bit skeptical of yoga — I enjoyed cardio-based workouts far more. However, after doing some research, I found a study by Bansal et al. which found that medical students in India who did yoga every day for just one month showed significant improvements in both their general and mental wellbeing.
Review of Dr. Sandeep Jauhar’s Memoir “Doctored”
Doctored: The Disillusionment of an American Physician is Dr. Sandeep Jauhar’s second book. In keeping with good narrative nonfiction, Jauhar offers a mix of personal stories, thoughtful interludes and an obvious effort to back up claims with facts and statistics. He offers compelling anecdotes, which allow the reader to situate him or herself into the context of health care in New York City. These personal vignettes are especially helpful for highlighting concepts difficult to discuss; an ethical dilemma or complex criticism of the health care system becomes much easier to understand when tied to a tangible person or place.
MedSchool Financials: Transportation, by Joseph Chiweshe, MD, MPH
On the journey to become a physician, your education will take you to a lot of different places, both geographically and developmentally. Throughout this process, the cost of transportation is an important and worthwhile factor to monitor. Transportation can become a large a part of your budget; however, there are several things you can do and steps you can take to keep it well within your budget during the time spent in medical school and beyond.
(Foolproof) Guide to Choosing a Specialty, by Jarna Shah, MD
Every medical student dreams of having that “Aha!” moment where you instinctively realize your future specialty. Unfortunately, it never seems to be as simple. That moment is often insidious and occasionally tainted with self-doubt.
Hitting the “Sweet Spot” in Life
To me, hitting a tennis ball is a symbol of how we as medical students perceive mental health: we know very well what habits are good for us and which are not. We know that we need eight to nine hours of sleep each night, a healthy diet and regular exercise. We know to engage in positive thinking, to nurture healthy relationships while cutting out toxic ones and to take time to “take care of ourselves” even when we are at our most stressed.
Stress Reduction and Mindfulness in Medical School: Yes, It’s Worth It
There’s a lot of talk about mindfulness these days — its importance, its effectiveness, the benefits of meditation and even the structural changes in the brain that result from it. (Do you want a less reactive amygdala and increased neuronal density in the hippocampus? Meditate!) It’s one thing to read about the benefits of doing something, but as many know, it’s another thing to actually apply it and understand it. So how can medical students use stress reduction strategies “in the context of the high-stakes, high-stress and time-limited environment of medical school.”
Treatment of Balance Disorder: Lessons from the Samurai Warrior
Before starting medical school, I had the opportunity to travel to Japan and visit an array of Buddhist cities peppered with ancient temples and samurai villages. As I explored these breath-taking communities, I discovered the samurai’s commitment to the pursuit of perfection in lifestyle and skill. Now, as I face the challenges of being a medical student, I find myself turning to the canon of the samurai.
A Medical Student’s Thank You
At the fundamental core of what the upcoming holiday is intended to represent, beyond the shopping and the impossibly large set of dinner plates in front of us, is the idea of gratitude. In the often busy lives of medical students, it is too easy to let this holiday merely be a break from the endless studying, a time to catch up on all the lectures you have let slip through the cracks, a time to spend home with your family and long-ignored friends or a time to catch up on that ever-elusive sleep.
An Ode to Teamwork
“Medicine is a team sport,” said one of many administrators who spoke to my class during medical school orientation. This utterance rang true to me, as I have always believed that medicine relies on people working together in a cooperative and respectful manner. Yet, what I never imagined is just how challenging it is to work in a group when you are the most passive person in a room. I came into medical school shy and feeling a little out of place.
Writer-in-Training, Columnist and in-Training Staff Member
Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine
Aishwarya is a second year medical student at the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine. She relishes any opportunity to talk policy, social determinants of health, mental health parity and inclusion topics. Outside of school, Aishwarya enjoys yoga, green tea with lemon and copious amounts of dark chocolate.
Doctor of Policy
Doctor of Policy is a column dedicated to exploring and challenging contemporary health policy issues, especially in the fields of behavioral health, health care access, and inclusion, all from the eyes of a public health girl in a basic sciences world